ASCAME and El Legado Andalusí, Spanish partners in the innovative international project iHERITAGE for the dissemination of UNESCO's Mediterranean Heritage

The "iHeritage ICT Mediterranean Platform for UNESCO's Cultural Heritage" project, which is being presented these days in each of the participating countries after its international launch at the end of last year in Palermo (Italy), represents today one of the most decisive commitments of the European Union for the digital transformation of the Mediterranean cultural tourism industry.

This international cooperation project, which brings together 10 partners from 6 Mediterranean countries (Egypt, Spain, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon and Portugal), among which the Public Foundation El Legado Andalusí and the Association of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce (ASCAME) stand out on the Spanish side, is expected to last 30 months and its activities will last until February 2023.

With a budget of approximately 3.8 million euros - of which 3.4 million euros are co-financed by the EU through the ENI CBC MED programme - iHeritage proposes a real revolution in the way we feel and experience our cultural heritage.

Through the creation of 70 augmented reality, 3D virtual reality and mixed reality products, the aim is to make UNESCO's cultural heritage in the Mediterranean accessible to everyone. According to Lucio Tambuzzo, from the Association of "Network of Castles and Medieval Villages", Department of Tourism of the Region of Sicily (Italy) and leaders of the project, "iHeritage will show us UNESCO's Mediterranean heritage as we have never seen it before". Dozens of new technological solutions will open the way for an unprecedented and democratic relationship with our oral traditions, cultural and archaeological heritage... that would otherwise be invisible and reserved only for the initiated.

The project will therefore apply these technological innovations to a number of selected UNESCO heritage sites in the different participating countries: Petra (Jordan); Byblos (Lebanon); Memphis and its necropolises together with the pyramid areas from Giza to Dahshur (Egypt); and several locations in Sicily (Italy) and Andalusia. In this regard, the El Legado Andalusí Public Foundation will organise exhibitions and carry out virtual archaeological reconstructions of Andalusian monuments that hold UNESCO World Heritage status.

The iHeritage project will be responsible for promoting the creation of the 1st Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Mediterranean and will create an international Mediterranean festival between the towns of Petra, Byblos and Sicily, which will be innovative for the staging of "i ART" experiences (augmented reality cinema).

In addition, the main objectives of iHeritage include the creation of the first Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Mediterranean (CRESPIEM), for which UNESCO recognition (category 2) will be sought, and the launch of the 1st UNESCO ICT Cluster for Cultural Heritage in the Mediterranean.

For ASCAME, this is a project of great interest and is in line with its "Recovery Plan and the New Economic Development Model for the Mediterranean" presented last July 2020, which contains more than 100 initiatives for the economic recovery of the main sectors of activity of the economies of the Mediterranean countries, among which the tourism sector stands out for its weight and relevance.

Tourism is one of the main economic drivers, as it generates a large number of jobs in most Mediterranean countries. For this reason, ASCAME has launched a series of proposals ranging from the creation of a rescue and salvage fund for the companies and businesses in the tourism sector most affected by the consequences of COVID-19, to the launch of the "Mediterranean Brand", in order to highlight the unique value of Mediterranean tourism compared to other regions, as well as to promote the Mediterranean as a sustainable tourism destination.

The creation of a "Mediterranean Tourism Council" aimed at fostering new opportunities for the economic growth of the Mediterranean tourism sector is another of ASCAME's key proposals. iHeritage represents an important step towards boosting the region's cultural tourism industry through the digitisation of a large part of the Mediterranean's cultural heritage, a World Heritage Site. It is a project that will play an important role in the economic recovery of the sector in the Mediterranean in the post-COVID-19 period.

In short, the iHeritage project represents an important stimulus for the development of the cultural tourism industry in the Mediterranean, not only through the development of innovative technological products, but also because it will help to improve the employment of young people - through the planned training and support for new spin-offs - and, in the process, boost employment in the creative industry sector in the Mediterranean.