UNESCO, European Commission to promote cultural routes

United Nations' cultural agency UNESCO and the European Commission on Monday announced a scheme to develop cultural routes through promoting World Heritage sites and boosting other cultural assets.

Worth 1.5 million euros (1.65 million U.S. dollars), the project seeks "to promote European heritage routes to the public, particularly in China, North America, and Europe," according to the UNESCO, which stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

It would also offer visitors to UNESCO World Heritage sites the opportunity to use consumer-friendly platforms and mobile applications in order to get maps and information concerning cultural places, as well as intangible cultural heritage events.

In a press release, UNESCO noted the first so-called heritage routes would be available by late 2017, and the project would involve local authorities, heritage site managers, cultural institutions such as museums and galleries, intangible cultural heritage players, and members of the travel industry.

"The European heritage routes' project is a welcome concrete demonstration of the power of cultural heritage to serve as a wellspring for sustainable economic development for communities and regions," said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

"I am confident that this European project will provide communities, conservationists, and political leaders with a model that can inspire development strategies drawing on the outstanding universal value of World Heritage sites in many parts of world," she added.

To Elzbieta Bienkowska, EU Commissioner for internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs, the cultural routes scheme "brings growth and new job opportunities," and "helps people to understand each other's past, what is of paramount importance nowadays." Endit