UNESCO World Heritage Journeys in the European Union
A parternship with UNESCO and National Geographic

With over 350 UNESCO World Heritage properties, the European Union (EU) is rich in outstanding natural and cultural heritage known in the whole world. In collaboration with National Geographic and Co-funded by the European Union (Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs), the UNESCO launched the project “World Heritage Journeys in the European Union”. These “World Heritage Journeys” resulted in the creation of a rich mobile-friendly website to showcase World Heritage destinations across the EU and focused on the concept of sustainable tourism.

This website highlights 34 UNESCO sites across 19 countries of the European Union. These 34 sites are divided in 4 journeys that highlight the European Heritage and its history: Ancient Europe, Romantic Europe, Underground Europe and Royal Europe. Visitors find insider tips on the best attractions and experiences to help them to prepare their trips in Europe. The project is also designed to attract key source markets to Europe such as China, in particular in the frame of the Year of tourism European Union-China 2018.

The project and the Network

For each route, a steering committee bringing together the project organizers, the selected World Heritagesites and representatives of cultural and tourism institutions has been set up. These steering committees have met several times in meetings, workshops, conferences to imagine and design the platform.

As the Network of European Royal Residences brings together some of the most beautiful, largest and most famous castles in Europe, and even the world, several of its members have been contacted to join the “Royal Europe” itinerary. Thus, of the 9 institutions involved in the “Royal Europe” project, 5 of them belong to the Network. This is why the Network of European Royal Residences as such has also been invited to join the steering committee for this European Route!

World Heritage sites in the route “Royal Europe”:

• Palace and Park of Versailles, France (member of the Network)
• 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex, Italy (member of the Network)
• Gardens and Castle at Kroměříž, Czech Republic
• Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin, Germany (member of the Network)
• Aranjuez Cultural Landscape, Spain (member of the Network)
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom
• The Royal Domain of Drottningholm, Sweden (member of the Network)
• The Par Force Hunting Landscape in North Zealand, Denmark
• Cultural Landscape of Sintra, Portugal (member of the Network)

The various partners met several times, in particular at the following events

• Workshop “Royal Europe” n° 1: 7-10 June 2017, The Royal Domain of Drottningholm, Sweden
• Workshop “Royal Europe” n° 2: 14-15 September 2017, Aranjuez, Spain
• Workshop “Strategy & Marketing” (Common to the 4 routes): 18-19 June 2018, Helsingør, Denmark
• Launch of the platform and presentation of the project, European Heritage Days: 15 September 2018, UNESCO Headquarter in Paris, France.
• Symposium « EU-China High Level Conference on World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism. Tourism and Culture Fostering Sustainable Development and Intercultural Dialogue” 29 October 2018, Paris, France
• Symposium ”World Heritage Journeys of the EU – Site Managers meeting”, 30 October 2018, Palace of Versailles, France

💻 After several months of work, the platform was officially launched on September 15th! Discover it here:  VisitEUWorldHeritage.com

A special edition of the magazine “National Geographic” and a video on Youtube are also available !