Transformative Tourism in European Capitals of Culture (TraCEs)

The project Transformative Tourism in European Capitals of Culture, also known as TraCEs – Cultour Is Capital, has supported cooperation between the tourism sector and the creative and cultural industries in the former and current European Capitals of Culture (ECoCs). The task of CIKE was to set the strategy and ensure the impact of project activities. The role of CIKE was to create a strategy and maintain the outreach of the project.

The project relied on the so-called concept of transformational tourism, which enables tourists and visitors to get to know the culture more closely and communicate meaningfully with the local inhabitants – to change their status to temporary citizens.

The project’s main goal was to create a sustainable tourism model, which builds on cultural heritage and involves creative and cultural industries based in the city. The project aimed to diversify the tourism offer by developing an innovative product of transformational tourism and promote cooperation between the tourism and cultural and creative industries.

• A series of educational workshops, during which participants prepared innovative concepts of tourist products and services in teams.
• Bloggers tested the winning designs during the summer of 2020. We welcomed them in Košice in cooperation with Visit Košice.
• The project’s main outcome is the online gamification platform Game of TraCEs, which maps cultural and creative operators in the ECOC. Thanks to it, tourists can get to know the city more closely, visit, and draw on residents’ recommendations.
• Interreg Europe described the project as an example of good practice to inspire policymakers across Europe.

This project was co-funded by the COSME Programme of the European Union (2014 – 2020).