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CANTATA2 is a 2.2. million Euro tourism development project funded through the Interreg IVB Atlantic Area Programme and working in Denbighshire in North Wales in the UK; Shannon, on the West Coast of Ireland; Galicia, in North West Spain; Poher, in West Central Brittany, France and Montemor-o-Velho, in Western Portugal.
Originally piloted in County Clare, Ireland, as the Live the Life Scheme, it was recognised that tourism is a key economic driver in Europe but recent research indicated that visitors were becoming increasingly suspicious of mainstream marketing; they suffered from marketing overload and could be disappointed by their tourism experiences.
Mainstream tourism drives the visitors to tourism 'hot spots' or 'honey pots' whereas CANTATA2 aims to move visitors from the 'hot spots' to more peripheral and under developed areas and deliver authentic and genuine visitor experiences, thus promoting and strengthening local distinctiveness.
CANTATA2 is the second phase of this project, following a successful phase one that ran from 2005 to 2008.
In phase one, the project carried out research studies and made connections with the local tourism trade to get to know the local businesses and their problems. It also worked with the trade to help promote the local distinctiveness as well as providing opportunities for SME's and micro-businesses to network and undertake skills training designed specifically for them. The project started at grass roots level, bringing in the local trade early on to tell CANTATA what they wanted from the project as well as steering the project on an ongoing basis. Its success lay in the ability to fill gaps that other projects and funding streams were not able to fill and in it approach to working in an organic manner, continually developing its actions to meet the needs of the tourism trade.
CANTATA2 will capitalise on the knowledge gleaned from phase one and develop the ideas into tangible results. The business networks will be strengthened and more ownership by the local trade will be visible. Results will also include actual tourism products to attract and retain visitors, such as food trails, e-tourism products and trails, cultural events, marketing campaigns. New, innovative technology and marketing methods will be explored and utilised and skills in such will be passed on to the trade.
People are at the heart CANTATA. The project is intended to foster a sense of pride within these local communities, pride in the region and in the way of life. This will communicate itself to the visitors in terms of a welcoming attitude and in-depth knowledge of the area, a confidence that what the area has to offer is of interest and value to the visitors.
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CANTATA Partners
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CANTATA is led by Denbighshire County Council who coordinates the transnational project on behalf of all partners.
Denbighshire is working closely with our CANTATA project partners and through the project we will learn from each others’ experiences and the added value CANTATA will bring to local tourism businesses
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