The European HERITAGE research project came out with a report in July, highlighting the economic benefits of material cultural heritage in different countries, including mountainous ones.
The main outcomes of the study show an important economic impact of material cultural heritage on different sectors, such as tourism and construction work. In the studied countries, material cultural heritage is for instance believed to represent 2.1% of total employment and 1% of the total economic turnover.
HERITAGE project
The HERITAGE project is carried out as a part of the ESPON Programme and included regions in Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Austria. Studied sites include all sites with recognised heritage value whether or not legally protected by national or international legal frameworks.
The ESPON Programme aims at promoting and fostering a European territorial dimension in development and cooperation by providing evidence, knowledge transfer and policy learning to public authorities and other policy actors at all levels.
In addition, during the European Week of Regions and Cities, on October 10, 2019, a session was organised by DG EAC (Education, Youth, Sport and Culture) and ESPON, to help understand the economic impact of material cultural heritage.