Traditional Crafts as a New Attraction for Cultural Tourism

Abstract

The project CRAFTATTRACT (Traditional crafts as a new attraction for cultural tourism) was implemented by the Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje and Slovenian partners in the cross-border area of Croatia and Slovenia. The Museums of Hrvatsko Zagorje have considerable experience in exploring tangible and intangible heritage in the region and good experience of co-operation with traditional craftspersons, who are contracted on a regular basis to demonstrate their skills in the museums. The project CRAFTATTRACT joined together various experts in the border region of Croatia and Slovenia in order to foster heritage as a driving force for responsible tourist development, thus establishing a sound basis for the preservation of crafts. It was implemented with EU funding through the initiative INTERREG IIIA Neighbourhood Programme, Slovenia-Hungary-Croatia. After the project successfully completed all the envisaged activities and the EU support was terminated, the project continued to fulfil its mission. The museums continue to pursue the project’s goals. The project also won international and national recognition. Furthermore, it played a significant role in the process of safeguarding intangible heritage in Croatia, especially in the preparation of the files for the national list of protected intangible heritage and for the inscription of the two elements from the region on the Representative List of UNESCO.