Abstract
The digitalization of cultural routes and virtual storytelling has emerged as a way of showcasing to individuals the heritage of different cultural universes. Regarding this fractional environment, and as a by-product of the international EU funded iHERITAGE project, (B_A.2.1_0056), the goal is to create, through an innovation-driven growth process and technological transfer, brand strategies for the affirmation and better knowledge of intangible realities in the Mediterranean region. The Sicilian Tourism Department in Italy is the project’s lead beneficiary, with representative partners throughout six Mediterranean countries (Italy, Egypt, Spain, Jordan, Lebanon, Portugal). The case study in Portugal is being developed in Tavira, through the intangible cultural heritage of the Mediterranean diet. The research based on the cultural experience, the history of the landscape and the sense of identity and continuity of knowledge is reassigned into a digital platform—the creation of apps and, within this, the design of a virtual route that navigates key geographical places. These apps will later revolve around one of the cultural elements of the Mediterranean, namely, the olive oil activity, with a detailed presentation of the manufacturing process, as well as its didactic interpretation and dissemination about the protection and conservation of Mediterranean research. The methodological approach is developed through the analysis and interpretation of a detailed list of references, fieldwork in a plurality of sites, contextual inquiries and interviews. As a powerful tool for internet marketing and research, these apps will reinforce identity, hospitality and tourism enterprises connected through the virtual itinerary, allowing a closer interaction between tourists and locals, endorsing the rise of technological development, as well as to drastically reduce environmental and ecological risks.
Highlights
Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is the aggregation of all immaterial manifestations of culture, the representation of the living culture of human communities, as well as the vehicle of cultural diversity [1]
Data capture linked to smart tourism raises big issues regarding information governance and correctly deriving the value of information [63] and there is a need for better research in the context of safety and security, whilst determining the openness and universal nature of operative applications in smart tourism
While tourism can feed on healthy collaborations amongst various social entities, it is not a sector that entices knowledge workers and the iHERITAGE team has inferred the same conclusion
Summary
Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is the aggregation of all immaterial manifestations of culture, the representation of the living culture of human communities, as well as the vehicle of cultural diversity [1]. Virtual social networks have merged into a new norm where technology, information, communication, tradition, culture and history provide the compulsory system that serves both a local to global structure and a global to local framework, stimulating, in-between, the power of cultural, social and artistic diffusion It seems that the dominant role of the Western world in the contemporary globalization development is perceived to be the “culture” of the global village [15]—additional to this train of thought, it is reasoned that while each of the three crises of globalization (the crisis of the environment, the crisis of the economy and the crisis of identity) are acknowledged on a global scope, they are, perceived locally [16]. Within the magnitude of this long and tragic period for tourism, people were forced to restructure companies, reinvent businesses and adapt an already existing “smart” meaning for tourism—in this regard, the iHERITAGE promptly follows the growth of extended reality technologies as a leading concept in the project’s thematic objective, highlighting the current implementations of AR in mixed environments and the importance of digital tourism for the industry practitioners
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