Retelling history through ancient-life stories to promote Sustainable Cultural Tourism

Abstract

Face to Face: Meet an Ancient Cypriot (FF-MAC) is a project funded by the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) and involves a consortium of academia, enterprises, governmental services, policy makers and societal stakeholders. The aim of the project is to increase the appeal and accessibility of cultural heritage for tourism through encounters with real individuals from the Cypriot past, based on bioarchaeological research leading to construction of osteobiographies, ancient life stories and visitor encounters with real, individual life stories from the past. The project involves an integrated intervention through research and technological- innovation activities for addressing important challenges in the relevant sector. Recent research revealed that both the global financial crisis and the recent pandemic have affected Cyprus tourism. In this context the aim of the project is to assist the tourism sector through transforming scientific research results (osteobiographies of ancient Cypriot individuals) into prototypes of tourism products, so that local tourism can enjoy a significant competitive advantage. To that end a primary research was conducted aiming to explore and segment the tourism market. The development of a new, attractive tourism product, which promotes cultural heritage, "retells" history and utilizes technological advances to enhance the tourism experience, should be based on primary and up-to-date data. Regarding the profile of the tourist interested in cultural tourism and the type of narrative, which makes archaeological research an enriching element of the tourist experience, special emphasis was given on the development of a branding strategy. Finally, although the elaboration of a branding strategy takes place in a context of instability, its main philosophy is to utilize FF_MAC project as an opportunity for a quality restart of Cyprus Tourism.