Project Memory Route – Sustainable cross-border tourism products for Memorial Park “Grivitsa” and „Turnu“ Fortress.
The cultural heritage of the European Union is a rich and diverse mosaic of cultural, historical and creative expressions, our inheritance from previous generations of Europeans and our legacy for those to come. It is also an important resource for economic growth, employment and social cohesion, offering the potential to revitalise urban and rural areas and promote sustainable tourism.
Although tourism is one of the strongest assets of the CB region in terms of employment and turnover in services, the thematic and alternative tourism potential of the area remains untapped. Pleven and Teleorman counties have no clear seasonality and urgently need measures to increase their tourism attractiveness based on the cultural heritage.
The common territorial challenges addressed by the project are: 1) the lack of valorisation of the cultural assets and 2) the seasonality of the tourism in the cross border area.
“Memory Route” will contribute to the creation of a distinctive image of the Pleven-Turnu Magurele area, built on unique cross-border cultural and historical heritage. The project idea is based on the Bulgarian-Romanian military cooperation in the historical plan, covering the ages from the Roman Empire to the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation (1877-1878). The project will develop and promote innovative integrated tourism products and services with the purpose to provide a sustainable and highly valuable alternative tourism offer.
Both Pleven and Turnu Magurele are the heirs of glorified war heroes and combat scenes. “Memory Route” will transform and integrate two historical landmarks of great importance – Grivitsa Memorial Park and Turnu Fortress- into a joint military history remembrance route by investing in sustainable tourist infrastructure and developing integrated thematic tourism products and services aiming to promote the region as an attractive thematic cultural tourism destination.
“Memory Route” overall objective is to improve the sustainable use of Pleven-Turnu Magurele historical and cultural heritage by identifying, developing and promoting thematic alternative cross-border tourist products and services for Memorial Park “Grivitsa” and Turnu Fortress. The project envisages investments in joint and sustainable thematic touristic infrastructure encompassing the eras of military cooperation from Roman Empire to Russo-Turkish Liberation War. “Memory Route” will identify, develop and promote 9 joint thematic cross-border tourist products and services representing participatory remembrance of the Romanian and Bulgarian war heroes from Roman times until the Siege of Pleven in 1877, thus valorising and raising awareness on the Pleven-Turnu Magurele historical- cultural heritage through its restoration and promotion for sustainable economic uses.
The project will contribute to the following Programme outputs targeted by this call:
I9 – Number of integrated tourism products/services created – by identifying, developing and promoting 9 integrated tourism products and services.
I10 – Number of common strategies, policies or management plans for valorising (including raising awareness) the cultural and natural heritage through its restoration and promotion for sustainable economic uses – by developing 1 joint marketing strategy.
The products, services and marketing strategy will be developed and assessed in multidisciplinary cooperation between the stakeholders in the tourism sector. Recommendations for its adjustment will be provided if necessary.
“Memory Route” will tackle the identified common challenges by applying an innovative joint approach for creation of sustainable tourism products and services based on the military cooperation and military tradition from ancient to modern times, thus turning the area into an attractive thematic tourism destination – a “memory lane” in terms of time and space – commemorating our ancestors who fought side by side for Europe as we know it today. “Memory Route” will identify, implement and promote new, attractive, sustainable and yet viable economic uses of existing monuments of great cultural and historical importance thus channelling the Pleven-Turnu Magurele alternative tourism potential with the purpose to revitalise the area and promote sustainable tourism.
Given the geography, the common ethnographic and historical evolution and military cooperation throughout the ages, a cross-border approach encompassing Pleven and Turnu Magurele regions is highly valuable and coherent in tackling the issue of historical heritage protection and usage. For this reason, the project idea is based on the route of the memories related to military actions during the common history.
A joint approach instead of local/national one would maximize the positive effects of the protection and sustainable use of Pleven – Turnu Magurele cultural heritage and will benefit the target groups and programme area by:
– improving the alternative/thematic tourism potential of the area;
-developing unique and sustainable products and services equally attractive for tourists as well as for local inhabitants;
– better managing the tourist flows from Pleven via Nikopol to Turnu Magurele and back;
– Increasing the interest in the area on behalf of potential visitors (tourists) and tour operators;
– Increasing the quality of life of local inhabitants;
– Raising the historical self-awareness and esteem of local inhabitants as well as visitors.
The new solutions that will be developed within the project are based on innovative products and services aiming to provide a sustainable and highly valuable alternative tourism offer – a military history remembrance road offering a complex of military-thematic cross-border tourism products and services on the territory of the Memorial Park Grivitsa and Turnu Fortress, including teambuilding activities, fitness boot camp, paintball, restoration of historical military events with educational and entertainment purposes, thematic cross-border festival „Memory route“, Military History Touristic Fair, etc. Memory Route will combine sustainable investments in tourist infrastructure with innovative ICT solutions (alternative tourism platform, GIS mapping of thematic objects of cultural and historical military heritage) with the purpose to facilitate access to cultural heritage sites, and to better inform tourists about the manifold but often dispersed cultural tourism sites, activities, products and services. The project will facilitate the cooperation between stakeholders in tourism sector directly involving them in the development of a joint marketing strategy and joint tourism products and services aiming to promote the region as a unique alternative tourism destination.
The project indicative budget is € 1 499 799.43 VAT included.