Conference paper
International Conference on Cultural Tourism Advances (ICCTA) 2023
Authors
Elina Argyridou, Orestis Rizopoulos, Maria Hadjiathanasiou, Marinos Ioannides, Panayiota Samara, Elena Karittevli, Ioannis Panayi, Marina Mateou, Iliana Koulafeti, Marios Koundouris, Kyriakos Efstathiou, Drew Baker,George Savva
Status
Submitted, under review
Abstract
This paper focuses on the case study of Fikardou village (Cyprus), a UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List monument, highlighting its unique cultural value by referencing historical evidence identified during our research. Our contribution investigates Fikardou’s cultural offerings by presenting and analysing the major outcomes of three EU-funded projects (TExTOUR, MNEMOSYNE, IMPACTOUR) that include Fikardou as a major component in their research programme. By elaborating on selected successful outputs such as policy interventions, new cultural tourism trends, advances in visitor management systems, and new business and/or governance models that arise from this specific case study, we argue for the advances that have been achieved in the cultural tourism sector in Cyprus, as exemplified through the experience of Fikardou village as a developing cultural tourist destination exploring and embracing digital technology as a force multiplier in achieving its aims.
