Welcome to the European Cultural Tourism Network website

The conference opened on Wednesday 6 July under the chairmanship of Mr Paul Loveluck CBE, President of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales. Opening speakers included Mr Andrew Davies AM, Welsh Assembly Minister for Economic Development and Transport, Mr Paolo Linty of the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, Italy and Mr Geraint Talfan Davies, chairman of the Arts Council for Wales - click here for a copy of his speech.

Dr Wolfgang Ebert, of Dortmund spoke about European Routes of Industrial Heritage, Mr Greg Richards of Tourism Research and Marketing (Barcelona) examined cultural tourism trends in Europe in the light of evidence from ATLAS research between 1997 and 2004, and Ms Tessa Jackson of Artes Mundi talked about creative cultural tourism. Click here for opening speaker presentations.

Mr Andrew Davies AM set the conference in the context of the Welsh Assembly Government’s aims to raise the profile of Wales internationally and the role Cardiff has as a European capital celebrating its centenary year as a city. Outlining the importance of cultural topics in the wider field of tourism that is such a significant contributor to the Welsh economy.

The afternoon of 6 July was taken up with parallel workshops on heritage tourism (click here for presentations) and creative cultural tourism (click here for presentations) (click here for photo gallery) (click here for workshop programme).

On Wednesday evening delegates attended a drinks reception at the Wales Millennium Centre hosted by Mr Alan Pugh AM, Minister for Culture, Welsh Language and Sport.