Istanbul (Turkey), 7 November 2014: conference Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality. A Heritage of Hospitality and Hospitality for Heritage. Keynote by prof. Lorenzo Cantoni, PhD, from Università della Svizzera italiana (USI Lugano, Switzerland).

1. ICT for Sustainable Tourism
in World Heritage Sites
An Overview and Some Cases
prof. Lorenzo Cantoni
Università della Svizzera italiana (USI Lugano, Switzerland)
UNESCO chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites
IFITT – International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel & Tourism
lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch ¦ @lorenzocantoni

2. UNESCO World Heritage
Sustainable Tourism
Five main areas of intervention for ICTs – eTourism
(Two major challenges / open questions)
AGENDA

3. “Identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to
future generations of the cultural and natural heritage” (art. 4)
“To ensure that effective and active measures are taken for the protection,
conservation and presentation of the cultural and natural heritage” (art. 5)
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE _1

4. protection
& / vs.
presentation
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE _2

5. A complex construct
Several approaches
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

6. Source: UNWTO Sustainable Tourism for Development Guidebook 2013, p. 22

7. Before
During
Afterwards
ICT: E-TOURISM
Source: Google, The 2013 Traveler

8. Widen access
Increase
ownership
and promote
interpersonal
encounters
Enrich visit
experience
Dis-intermediate
(some)
relationships
Upgrade
knowledge /
skills in
MSMTE
FIVE MAIN AREAS OF
INTERVENTION FOR ICT

9. UNESCO chair @ USI tot.
12 aims ST
2005
UNCTD 2005
UNWTO
ST4D
Guidebook
2013
12 aims of sustainable tourism, 2005, UNWTO & UNEP
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTD 2005
UNWTO Sustainable Tourism for Development Guidebook 2013
D. Buhalis, R. Owen, D. Pletinckx, 2009, Information communication technology applications for World Heritage Site management, in
a. Leask, A. Fyall, Managing World Heritage Sites, Elseiver, 2009
Milne S., Ateljevic I, 2001, Tourism, Economic Develoment and the global-local nexus: theory embracing complexity, Tourism
Geographies, 3 (4), 369-393.
Ali A. Frew A.J., 2009, ICT and sustainable tourism development: an analysis of the literature, HITA Conference 2009
SOME REFERENCES
BUHALIS-OWEN-PLETNICKX
2009
MILNE &
ATELJEVIC
2001
FREW 2000
ALI & FREW
2009
ENRICH VISIT EXPERIENCE 5 1 not exp. 1 1 1 not exp. 1
WIDEN ACCESS 4 0 1 not exp. 1 not exp. 1 1
INCREASE OWNERSHIP AND
PROMOTE INTERPERSONAL
ENCOUNTERS
3 1 1 1 not exp. 0 0 not exp.
DIS-INTERMEDIATE (SOME)
RELATIONSHIPS
3 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
UPGRADE KNOWLEDGE /
SKILLS IN MSMTE
3 not exp. 0 not exp. 1 1 1 not exp.

10. Access information and share experiences online
E.g.: videos ¦ websites ¦ …
#1: WIDEN ACCESS _1

11. E.g.: Latin America
#1: WIDEN ACCESS _2

12. E.g.: 129 African WHSs: 24 dedicated websites
#1: WIDEN ACCESS _3

13. #2: ENRICH VISIT EXPERIENCE _1
• While onsite: mobile access ¦ location based services (LBS)
¦ augmented reality (AR) ¦ …
• The case of mobile apps
– July 2013, on iTunes apps for 140 out of 981 WHSs
• 70 Europe, 41 Asia, 13 North America, 6 South America, 5 Africa, 3
Oceania, 2 Central America
• 99 cultural, 36 natural, 5 mixed
• 47 sites had more than one app
– WHS and/or UNESCO logo present in 12.2% and 11.3% of apps
• explicit reference to world heritage in 56.5% ¦ year of inscription:
31.3% ¦ specific sustainability hints: 9.6% ¦ actual reason of
inscription: 7.8% ¦ UNESCO and its 1972 Convention: 4.4%
Schieder, T. K., Adukaite, A., & Cantoni, L. (2014). Mobile Apps Devoted to UNESCO World Heritage
Sites: A Map. In Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014, pp. 17-30

14. E.g.: Patrimonio Ticino
Lessons learned: Open source ¦
no data roaming ¦ clear statement on Outstanding Universal Value ¦
responsible/sustainable tourism ¦ joint forces ¦ CSR
#2: ENRICH VISIT EXPERIENCE _2

15. Sacred Tree of Ambohimanga Rova (Madagascar).
Picture by Maminirina Radifera Ranaivoson
Digital StoryTelling ¦ informal learning ¦ gamification ¦ …
E.g.: Whacy (play it! www.whacygame.org/retosa)
Lessons Learned: collab. ¦ informal learning + empowerment ¦ gamification ¦
100k+ students involved ¦ FB campaign: 3’250+ likes ¦ RETOSA home
#3: INCREASE OWNERSHIP AND PROMOTE
INTERPERSONAL ENCOUNTERS _1

16. #3: INCREASE OWNERSHIP AND PROMOTE
INTERPERSONAL ENCOUNTERS _2
Listening to Online Travel Reviews
E.g.: Saint Paul Outside the Walls (Rome, Italy)
De Ascaniis, S., & Cantoni, L. (2013). Artistic and religious
experiences in online travel reviews on Saint Paul outside the
walls (Rome). Proceeding of ICOT 2013, International Conference
on Tourism, Lymassol, Cyprus, 5-8 June, pp. 160-173

17. Distribute info ¦ support communication and promotion ¦ …
E.g.: www.ilhademocambique.org (collab. ¦ local involvement ¦ MSMTE)
E.g.: www.olgasproject.com (from NGO’s to tourism communication)
#4: DIS-INTERMEDIATE (SOME)
RELATIONSHIPS

18. eLearning ¦ Open Educational Resources (OER) ¦ MOOCs ¦ …
E.g.: elearning.ticino.ch ¦ www.elearning4tourism.com
#5: UPGRADE KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS

19. Everybody Locals
FIVE MAIN AREAS OF
INTERVENTION FOR ICT
Tourists Tourism
players
Widen access
Enrich visit experience
Increase ownership and promote
interpersonal encounters
Dis-intermediate (some) relationships
Upgrade knowledge / skills in MSMTE

20. Not being able to get lost + being pampered
Elastic relationship between ordinary and travel time
TWO MAJOR CHALLENGES /
OPEN QUESTIONS

21. www.unescochair.usi.ch
prof. Lorenzo Cantoni
Università della Svizzera italiana (USI Lugano, Switzerland)
UNESCO chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites
IFITT – International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel & Tourism
lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch ¦ @lorenzocantoni