A stakeholder meeting was held on October 13th for the Scheldeland Living Laboratory to present SmartCulTour project, identify regions for the resident survey and work towards establishing the living lab. The meeting was attended by the regional coordinator of Scheldeland and Regionaal landschap Schelde-Durme as well as representatives from Toerisme Vlaanderen (consortium partner), KU Leuven (consortium partner), Province of Eastern Flanders, and Province of Antwerp. Now the project will also be taken up in the relevant strategic plans of the regions.
The overarching goal of the Living Lab is to support the development of cultural tourism through bottom-up development. The Lab specifically aims to promote a broader view on culture and heritage which is currently, specifically in a Flemish context, rather narrowly focused on built urban heritage. Combining industrial heritage in this region with slow tourism products (walking, cycling, or boating) and local gastronomy can cater a more local and transformational tourist experience.
