Cultural events and tourist services: A management model for guided tours

The introduction of ICT in the tourism sector has had a significant impact on competitiveness that goes way beyond the traditional approach of mere conservation of cultural heritage. Innovative methods in the cultural sector can be useful for tackling the organizational problems and critical issues that affect operators in the various phases of a guided tour. This study analyses the opportunities for the tourism sector and Intangible Cultural Heritage arising from approaches such as Business Process Management (BPM) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). These models, already in place in many areas of the industrial sector, could easily be extended to the tourism and cultural sectors. The purpose is to extrapolate a meta-model able to manage the organizational variables and critical issues emerging in the evolution of cultural routes. The model will provide guidelines to the backend unit that organizes guided tours and various kinds of event. This aspect is key to the success of replicable events because it provides a Management Information System that supports future planning with historical data. The management model investigated was applied to a specific case study: “The Ways to Jerusalem: Maritime, Cultural and Pilgrimage Routes, an itinerary of cultural and spiritual interest”.