Cultural tourism is the term introduced in the 1980s for trips during which tourists consciously engage with art and culture in the broadest sense, such as the cultures of other peoples, cultural monuments or cultural and artistic events.
According to the 2000 cultural report for Liechtenstein, it is important to link culture and tourism in order to raise the profile of the “Liechtenstein brand” abroad. The report refers, among other things, to the Princely Collections, the Art Museum, the National Museum, architectural monuments and archaeological artefacts. However, Liechtenstein provides only few opportunities that encourage people to tell their stories. Although cultural tourism has become more relevant as a field of action, the integration of cultural areas has not yet been included in the statistics. Since 2019, the Board of Directors of Liechtenstein Marketing has been working on a “Strategic White Paper 2025”. These ideas are to be included in the marketing and communication strategy 2022–2026.
One example of how it can succeed in showcasing what is special about and in Liechtenstein is “The Liechtenstein Trail”, which has been in place since the 300th anniversary of the Principality in May 2019 (see 1.2.6). On 75 kilometres throughout the country, locals and visitors can interactively experience the country’s history, stories and sights – in other words, culture and nature. The LIstory (Liechtenstein History) app uses augmented reality to showcase various historical hotspots along the way through all eleven municipalities.
At the end of 2019, a group of experts from EU member states published the “Report on Sustainable Cultural Tourism” and formulated a new kind of relationship between culture and tourism. According to them, sustainable cultural tourism combines “sustainable culture” and “sustainable tourism”. The objective is to strengthen the cooperation between the two for the social, environmental and economic benefit of everyone involved. The report contains 55 recommendations that adhere to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Among other things, the expert group recommends a European task force against excessive tourism in heritage destinations and calls for municipal ownership as well as support.
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