TIRANA – Stunningly beautiful nature of the Accursed Mountains settled between Albania, Kosovo* and Montenegro just got its cultural edge. From now on, colourful legends, verbal history, songs, dances, crafts and cuisine of local communities living in remote mountainous villages are going to be part of the hiking tours through this region.

This new cultural component of what is normally an adventure tourism tour was developed by the Institute for Public and Private Policies (IP3) and presented today in Tirana. As a beneficiary of the RCC provided and EU funded tourism grant, they took stock of this immense intangible cultural heritage and turned it into a tourism product called Accursed Cultour.

“The very definition of the adventure tourism includes cultural component and any adventure tourism product must have it. This is why the Accursed Cultour is a welcomed addition to the regional adventure tourism offer. What’s more, it will involve local communities in the tourism industry and improve their quality of life by enabling them to raise additional revenues by hosting visitors,” said Snjezana Derviskadic, Team Leader of the RCC’s Tourism Development and Promotion Project.

The Accursed Cultour will be promoted through a booklet and video presenting the region’s cultural heritage, a dedicated website and downloadable and trackable map of itineraries. In addition, IP3 introduced guides and tour operators to new itineraries and interpretation of tangible and intangible heritage through storytelling, thus enabling them to proactively promote the new route and guide tourists. 

“For a while now, the Accursed Mountains have been recognised as an attractive adventure tourism destination. However, one big portion of what the mountains had to offer was neglected. With bringing forward the cultural heritage of the mountains and making it part of the regional tourism offer we hope to protect that heritage and save it from being forgotten. We also hope that the experience of people visiting the mountains will be improved and that we will turn local communities into important tourism actors,” said Romina Sahiti, Project Manager at IP3.

More information about the grant 

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.