Heritage Tourism and Neo-Endogenous Development: The Case of the Black Sea Project “Alector”

The neo-endogenous development paradigm advocates the democratic use of local resources in order to improve the quality of life of local residents in a given area through intense social and economic interaction with the global system. A theoretical basis for this development paradigm could be the “culture economy”, which dictates that a locality, through its local institutions and the civic society, should promote its self-perceived distinct territorial identity both at the local and the extra-local level in order to achieve its development goals, especially through tourism. This is due to the fact that the local identity has been recognised as a decisive factor that favours neo-endogenous development through the processes of democratic legitimacy and community empowerment. Herein, we examine the practical implementation of the European Union “Alector” project and its local pilot implementation project “Tobacco Perfumes. Drama 1840–1940. Stories, Passions, Protagonists” under the theoretical framework of the culture economy in the specific area of Drama, Greece. The “Alector” project, implemented by nine (9) multi-level partners in seven (7) countries (namely Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey) from 2014 to 2016 was funded by the Black Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme 2007–2013. The project sought to develop quality heritage tourism standards in selected areas of the Black Sea Basin; as such it demonstrated a great potential in as far as cultural assets’ rejuvenation and local identity formation and promotion is concerned both at the local and the extra-local level. We argue that local cultural assets, despite the current practical difficulties of their rejuvenation due to the economic crisis in Greece, can contribute to the formation of a specific place identity that could in turn trigger a broader post-productive development process. In this respect, it is of utmost importance to ensure the initiation of an involvement and consumption process by all segments of local society in order to ensure the sustainability of the culture economy approach and the creation of a long-term development repertoire for the locality. We finally provide practical implementation suggestions for similar projects falling into the culture economy approach.