The Exchange is promoted and organized by the Province of Salerno in collaboration with the Region of Campania under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic, with the support of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the World Tourism Organization (WTO), UNESCO, ICCROM, and the patronage of the Minister of Tourism.

The event, conceived and directed by Ugo Picarelli, head of the communications company, Leader, aims to promote destinations and archaeological sites, to facilitate the marketing of specific tourism products, to contribute to the seasonal adjustment and to to increase economic and employment opportunities. 

Over 30 countries will be represented, including the Czech Republic, Kenya, the Russian Federation, Indonesia for the first time and Armenia, which is the official guest country.

In addition to participating in the opening ceremony, ICCROM will be involved in the following activities:

16 November:

• The sixth meeting of the International Archaeological Periodicals "Cultural heritage and tourism: best practices for local development, training, promotion". In addition to the editors of major archaeological newspapers, guests will include: Francesco Bandarin, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture; Saywan Barzani, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq in Italy; Angela Bizzarro, Sapienza University of Rome; Mounir Bouchenaki, Special Adviser to the Director-General of UNESCO; Anna Maria Buzzi, Director-General of the Directorate General for the Promotion of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture; Maurizio Melani, Director-General of the Directorate General for the Promotion of a National System, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The event will be by the Andreas Steiner, Director of Archeo Magazine.

17 November:

• Presentation of a variety of books published on the archaeological site of Pompeii, with Stefano De Caro, Director-General of ICCROM; Cinzia Dal Maso, author of Pompeii: The Art of Love; Francis Weighing, author of Pompeii: The Ages of Pompeii (published by 24 Ore Cultura); Carmen Covito, author of the novel, Girls of Pompeii (Barbera publisher). The event will be moderated by Carlo Alberto Bucci of the newspaper La Repubblica.

• ArcheoVirtual: exhibitions and workshops on virtual archeology by the Virtual Heritage Lab of the Institute for Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage, CNR (under the scientific direction of Sofia Pescarin). The aim is to explore new frontiers of international scientific and technological research related to the ancient world. During the Workshop "Virtual Heritage and Museums: new models for the future of cultural tourism", industry experts such as Pascal Brackman, CEO of RouteYou, Stefano De Caro, Director-General of ICCROM, Franz Fischnaller digital artist for FABRICATOR and Luigi Nicolais, President of CNR will discuss the possibility of creating tourism that enhances artistic and cultural resources that are less well known. Discussion will examine digital art, virtuality, tourist circuit platforms with virtual museums accessible on networks and smartphones/tablets. Students of the International School of Virtual Heritage and exhibitors and experts of the European Network of Excellence on virtual museums (V-MUST.NET) will take part to the event. It will be moderated by Fernanda Roggero, Editor-in-Chief of Nòva 24 (a component of the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore).

For more information on the XV Borsa Mediterranea del Turismo Archeologico, visit the event's official website.

updated on: 20 November, 2012