The DANTE project aims to improve regional policies for innovation and the role of information society in tourism economies of rural, mountain, and remote areas. It does this through collecting and analyzing good practices of ICT services for tourism, exchange of experiences through workshops and study visits, and developing implementation plans to apply lessons learned. The document outlines 34 good practices collected in 6 workshops, which are categorized as improving promotion, developing new customer experiences, or building tourism operator capacities. Key project components include guidelines on good practices, study visits, and regional implementation plans.

1. The contents reflect the author's views. The Managing Authority is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein
This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the
INTERREG IVC programme
Digital Agenda for New Tourism Approach in European Rural and
Mountain Areas – DANTE [http://danteproject.eu/]
Overview of Good Practices & strategies built from projects findings
Manasakis Constantine PhD, University of Crete
DANTE mid-term conference
Torino, 2 October 2013

2. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
2
What is the focus of DANTE project?
To improve the effectiveness of the regional policies in the area of
innovation, by enhancing the key enabling role that Information
Society can play in the tourism economy in…
1. Rural and Mountain areas
2. Remote areas
3. Disadvantaged areas

3. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
 Learning through Good Practices plays a fundamental
role:
– Project - Component 3.1: Thematic Guidelines
– Project - Component 3.2: Study Visits
– Project - Component 3.3: Implementation Plans
– Project - Component 4: Light Pilot
3
Why collecting good practices?

4. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
 Goal: Exchange of experiences and learning dedicated to the
identification and analysis of good practices
 Expected results: Good practices regarding ICT services for
tourism in rural/mountainous areas to be exchanged and
implemented in partners’ Implementation Plans.
4
Goals and expected results of GP exchange

5. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
 6 workshops, 3 objectives:
Interface for communication and transfer of good practices
Share current policy initiatives among stakeholders.
Share existing innovative ICT experiences on tourism
services in mountain and rural areas.
5
34 practices collected in 6 workshops

6. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
General Objectives
6
WORKSHOPS: Presenting and Communicating Good
Practices regarding tourism in mountain and rural areas
Stakeholders
Policies and
Initiatives
Objectives per Day; Session
Highlights per Day; Session
Corporate
Products and
Services
Knowledge transfer approach

7. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
1. Motivation of the GP:
2. Issues Tackled in the GP:
3. Objectives of the GP:
4. Innovation of the GP
5. Categorization of the GP:
5.1 “Front Office”
5.2 “Consumer”
5.3 “Back Office”
7
Defining a Good Practice (GP)

8. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
8
Motivation
Promote culture; history; nature of a region
Understand needs and provide personalized information to visitors
Understand and change the perceived image of a city’s visitors
Transform local tourism business in a knowledge based economy
Exploit smartphone and social networking technologies
Investigate regional tourism flow data
Ability to book a complete trip (transport, accommodation, …)
Overview of Good Practices

9. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
9
Issues Tackled
Collect and analyze information related to tourists
Provide a unified platform for historic, cultural reserves and tourism services
Advance the creation of digital and virtual content
Development of new products and new consumer-producer relationships
Integrate tools allowing for direct exchange between providers and
consumers of tourism services
Use and management of the hiking heritage network
Integration of social networks into an existing single portal Web platform
Overview of Good Practices

10. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
10
Objectives
Improve competitiveness of cultural tourism via digital technologies
Improve a region’s visibility as a brand on social media
Identify innovative elements for mountain destination development and
promotion
Create virtual visits and a new image of a region-destination through social
media
Create an active listening platform upon the tourists’ experiences via social
networks
Allow tourists to create personal routes and get information for natural
activities on-the-move
Overview of Good Practices

11. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
11
Innovation
Virtual tours; audio-visual content; location-based information through
smartphones
Wide-scale camera installation for real-time views of tourism-related sites
Booking systems integration / Interface unification
Semantic interpretation of data
On-board services during a taxi ride
Use of High Dynamic Range (HDR) images and HTML5
Social media marketing
Use of geometric-based systems to store hiking-related information
Online access to detailed meteorological information
Overview of Good Practices

12. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
12
Categorization of the GP:
5.1 “Front Office”: Promotion of
tourism with innovative tools but
traditional methodology.
5.2 “Consumer”: Innovative
methodology for a customer
“actor” of tourism.
5.3 “Back Office”: Networking /
training of local tourism
operators.
3 groups of Good Practices

13. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
Have you read it?
Check:
www.danteproject.eu
13
Project’s 1st result: GP Guide

14. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
1./ Promotion of local tourism using traditional technology in
an innovative way
– The mobile Tag system for promoting and networking alpine skiing
stations (Province of Turin, Italy)
– Extremadura Vista: Axis Network Cameras to promote Historic,
Natural and Cultural Heritage of Extremadura (Spain)
– Boosting the cultural sector by Cultural Tourism Development
Plans (Podbeskidzie Region, Poland)
14
What types of GP have been collected?

15. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
2./ Developing innovative methodology & new software for
customers
– Listening Platform of the tourist users’ needs (CSI Piemonte,
Piedmont Region)
– Arcipelago Campano project by Lauro Group (Napoli, Italy) and
Forthcrs (University of Crete, Greece)
15
What types of GP have been collected?

16. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
3./ Improving the capacities of the tourism operators
– Innovation acceleration for new business and service
development by peer learning and idea creation in an uncertain
world (Inknowcom, The Netherlands)
– New product and service development for rural tourism on farms
(Bauernhofferien, Germany)
– Tourisma’TIC Suivez le guide — Tourism’ICT Follow the guide
(Cybermassif, France)
16
What types of GP have been collected?

17. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
 Mobile Tag System for alpine skiing stations – Province of Turin
(Italy)
Motivation: Promote and connect Turin mountain area destinations
Issues Tackled: Lack of promotion for minor alpine skiing stations
Objectives: Promote alpine skiing stations through mobile tags
Innovation: Location-specific content using mobile tags; Rich audio-
visual content through smartphones
Categorization: “front office”
17
An example

18. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
 Arcipelago Campano Project – Lauro Group (Italy) /
FORTHcrs (Greece)
Motivation: Ability to book a complete trip (transport,
accommodation, …)
Issues Tackled: Combined promotion of tourism services
Objectives:
• Multimodal travel planning for tour operators/ individual tourists
• Integrated marketing strategy for all tourism services
Innovation: Booking systems integration; Interface unification
Categorization: “consumer”; “back office”
18
Another example

19. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
19
Why collecting good practices?
Good
Practices
(Component 3.1)
Thematic Guidelines
(Component 3.2)
Study Visits
(Component 3.3)
Implementation Plans

20. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
20
Component 3.1: Thematic Guidelines
Contains an in depth meta-analysis of the collected GPs, with
respect to their Motivation, Issues Tackled, Objectives, Innovations
and Categorization.
Identify opportunities for new policy initiatives among relevant
stakeholders for the development of their tourism local and
regional policies in remote areas.
Identify opportunities for innovative ICT products and services on
tourism in mountain and rural areas.

21. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
21
Component 3.2: Study Visits
Workshops will be followed by 5 (grouped) Study Visits.
Partners having a special interest for specific GP will organize a
Study Visit in the relevant region.
Study Visits aim at:
I. Analyzing in depth some of the GPs (it is foreseen that 5 GPs could
be transferred).
II. Supporting the drafting of the 8 Implementation Plans
(Component 3.3).

22. This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made
possible by the INTERREG IVC programme
22
Component 3.3: Implementation Plans
Describe how each DANTE Region commits itself to define and
mobilize the potential of ICT into tourism policies dedicated to rural
and mountain areas, within the regional Digital Agenda.
… attained through identifying strategies to:
I. Raise the awareness of stakeholders on how ICT can effectively
improve the tourism offering/services in rural and mountain
areas.
II. Unlock the ICT potential for EU entrepreneurship in these areas,
as the vast majority of tourism businesses are SMEs.