UNESCO Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage: A new era in Cyprus in the fields of Digital-Cultural Tourism and Diplomacy, following the completion of the pioneering Winter School
The Winter School entitled “Digital and Cultural Tourism and Diplomacy“, which lasted one week and managed to attract the interest of all stakeholders both in Cyprus and in the rest of the world, in this specific thematic unit, was successfully completed. The primary objective of the Winter School was the development and promotion of sustainable tourism in world cultural heritage sites and the exploration of ways to enhance the tourist experience, through the promotion of “living” heritage and alternative forms of tourism.
The Winter School, which brought together 35 students from 17 countries, was organized by the UNESCO Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage at the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), the corresponding Chair of the European Research Area (ERA), under the name Mnemosyne at CUT, in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair in Information and Communication Technology for the Development and Promotion of Sustainable Tourism in World Heritage Sites, based in Switzerland (Università della Svizzera italiana). The experience was unique for all participants and especially the students, because they had the opportunity to attend specialized presentations by the most competent and technocrats of the European Union in this matter and they also got to know Cyprus and its cultural heritage up close.
The opening ceremony of the Winter School took place on February 14, 2022 in Limassol, with the active participation of the Minister of Transport, Yiannis Karousos, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Savvas Perdios, the Ambassador of Switzerland, Pierre-Yves Fux, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Kyriakos Hatzigiannis, the holder of the UNESCO Chair in Information and Communication Technology for the Development and Promotion of Sustainable Tourism, Lorenzo Cantoni, the holder of the European Research Area Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage, Kyriakos Efstathiou, and the President of the Cyprus Section of ICOMOS, Chrysanthos Pissarides.
All officials congratulated Cyprus University of Technology and the UNESCO Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage for the unique “Winter School”, in a difficult time due to the pandemic, but also in terms of tourist arrivals. At the same time, this event was an important occasion for the presentation of important new innovative programs of Cyprus, such as the effort that began last May, to digitise approximately 96,000 antiquities, of which 82,000 are located in the Nicosia Archaeological Museum and the remaining 14,000 in other state museums, through the Department of Antiquities. The innovative project of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, which concerns the authentic experience route, called “Heartland of Legends”, a 3,000-kilometer route “that passes entirely through the inland of Cyprus, the mountains, the countryside and our remote areas” was also presented, and he expressed the hope that “the route will function as an umbrella, under which all the authentic experiences of Cyprus can be integrated“.
During the Winter School, students and participants had the opportunity to attend important presentations, including those by the General Manager of the Pancyprian Hoteliers Association (PASYXE), Philokypros Rousounidis, the Vice President of the CCCI for Tourism, Costas Galatariotis and the Managing Director of the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency, Georgios Kambanellas. The detailed program of the presentations and the names of the distinguished speakers can be found here .
The students, in addition to the purely educational part, also had the opportunity to visit various parts of Cyprus. They visited the Cyprus University of Technology, where they were welcomed by the Vice-Rector for Economic Planning and Development, Professor Panagiotis Theodosiou, and were given a tour of the Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory, where the UNESCO Chair in Digital Cultural Heritage is located. They also visited the Cyprus Wine Museum, the Kolossi Castle, the Medieval Castle of Limassol, as well as the Limassol Municipal Hall, where they were welcomed by the Mayor Nikos Nikolaidis, in the context of the presentation “Digital and Cultural Tourism and Diplomacy 2022”, where reference was made to the actions and practices applied in the case of Limassol. They also visited the Paphos district, starting from Petra tou Romiou and then the Paphos Municipal Hall, where they were welcomed by the Mayor of Paphos, Phaedonas Phaedonos. They were informed about the experience of Paphos as the European Capital of Culture and a reference was made to the actions of the Municipality for the development of sustainable tourism, emphasising the transformation of Paphos into a “smart city”. They also took a guided tour of the archaeological site of Paphos, the castle of Paphos and the Holy Monastery of Chrysorrogiatissa.
The Winter School is undoubtedly the beginning of a new era in the thematic areas of Digital and Cultural Tourism and Diplomacy. Silvia De Ascaniis, coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Information and Communication Technology for the Development and Promotion of Sustainable Tourism in World Heritage Sites in Switzerland, also expressed her pleasure, stating that this is the most important event of her Chair, which is taking place in person for the first time since the pandemic.
The Director of the UNESCO Chair for Digital Cultural Heritage, Marinos Ioannides, finally stated that the goal was to educate students in new digital technologies, noting that “the 21st century has emerged as the golden age of Information Technology, which has dominated human life.“