On 21st and 22nd March representatives of partners of the SECreTour project met in Tomor, at the premises of ROMAMA, the social cooperative that participates in the SECreTour pilot about Roma minority heritage.

Tomor is located in the North-East part of Hungary, hosting a large Roma population. Despite its valuable natural and cultural evidence, the area is suffering of its remote position in the country and a high uneployment rate.

The social activity experimented in the SECreTour pilot represents a very valuable opportunity of development for the local citizens, who are engaged in participatory and co-creation activities within the collaboration with ELTE University that is the pilot leader in the SECreTour project.

The team of Promoter srl and ELTE University met with a nice representation of youngsters from Tomor and the surrounding villages. It was a pleasant time, where each participant had the oppotunity to tell about him/her interests and expectations for the future. After having lunch together, a small and informal concert was also the occasion to enjoy Roma music played by local young artists.

Here below we provide a selection of the pictures taken during the enconters.

Social activity at ROMAMA, in Tomor

Playing Roma music at Romama, in Tomor

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.

The SECreTour Network is growing!

Europeana empowers the cultural heritage sector in its digital transformation.  It develops expertise, tools and policies to embrace digital change and encourage partnerships that foster innovation.  It makes it easier for people to use cultural heritage for education, research, creation and recreation. Its work contributes to an open, knowledgeable and creative society.

Europeana is steward of the Data space for cultural heritage. Together with other data spaces Europeana strives to provide free access to open cultural heritage data for anyone who would like to access or use it. There are many opportunities connection to this data space provides.

Europeana focuses on the tourism audience as an important connection to provide opportunities to battle overtourism, create innovative new tourism experiences, highlight underrepresented destinations, etc.

Furthermore, Europeana is partner in the Deploytour project, which is setting up the Data Space for Tourism, ensuring that there is a robust connection between the Data Space for Cultural Heritage and the Data space for tourism.

You can find out more about Europeana on: https://www.europeana.eu

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.

From right to left: Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni, Antonio Lenzo from the team at Università della Svizzera Italiana, Antonella Fresa Networking Manager of SECreTour, Adine Gavazzi leader of Monte San Giorgio pilot

On 10th and 11th March representatives of partners of the SECreTour project met in Lugano to visit the places of the pilot about Monte San Giorgio.

This is a very special place, full of cultural heritage, environamental and historic excellence, positioned on the border betwenn Cantone Ticino in Swizeland and Regione Lombardia in Italy.

The SECreTour pilot is connecting with local communities that are working on valuting the extremely valuable place and to transfor tourists into real travellers, eager to discover the wonders of the territory.

The team of Promoter srl and of Univerità della Svizzera Italiana were able to experience the mountain track that brings to the Hermitage of Beato Manfredo, to enjoy the ancient Babtistere of Riva San Vitale, to meet with Jurg Schewwerzmann, Cultural Councillor at the Municipality of the precious village of Morcote, and to discuss and plan the next workshop on cross-border and multiregional strategies to be held in fall 2025 in Lugano.

The meetings were very interesting and profitable.

Here below we provide a selection of the pictures taken during the enconters.

In front of the Cathedral of Morcote

Along the track to the Hermitage of Beato Manfredo

In the Baptistere of Riva San Vitale

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.

On 17th – 19th September 2025 the Centre for Regional and Tourism Research (CRT) on the island of Bornholm will host the Nordic Symposium 2025 under the theme “The transformative power and potential of tourism”.

In conjunction with the Symposium, Aalborg University organises a PhD course whose aim is to strengthen the participants’ knowledge about key perspectives and theories about the transformative potentials of tourism as a social activity, and the methods through which the impact of touristic practices can be illuminated.

The impact of tourism has been central for public debates about overtourism and sustainability in recent years, and these concerns are also increasingly reflected in scholarly efforts, including many PhD projects. Research into the negative and positive impacts of tourism as a social activity is being conducted under numerous headings –e.g. regenerative tourism, mindful tourism, etc. – and this course will tap into this field of academic endeavor.

The course focuses on the keywords ‘impacts’ and ‘transformation’ in two, often connected, ways:

• in relation to regeneration of places that frame and contain touristic activities and experiences, with a focus on how tourism can push development in new and strategic directions that correspond with and support local development visions and ambitions
• as a process of personal learning and development when traveling and experiencing places as a tourist, with a focus on co-creating engaging, memorable and eye-opening experiences that potentially can change mindsets and behavior

The theme is important both in tourism research and, indeed, for local communities and tourist destinations, where tourism is often used as a means to work towards sustainable goals and outcomes by regenerating, revitalizing, and re-strategizing the communities. To succeed with this, rethinking of actions and practices in all sectors and industries in society, including tourism, is required in order to ensure that outcomes are not only sustainable in the broadest sense of the word, but also are experienced as desirable and beneficial from the perspective of both visitors and local citizens.

The course begins Monday 15 September 9:00 and ends Wednesday 17 September at noon,  after which participants are encouraged to join the 33rdSymposium in order to continue discussions about tourism, societal impact and transformative potentials.

Aalborg University is the coordinator of CROCUS project funded by the EU under the Horizon Europe programme, which participates in the Network of Common Interest of the SECreTour projects.

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.