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UNESCO Chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites 

Our Mission

Established in September 2013, USI UNESCO Chair is committed to perform research and teaching on how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and digital media in general, can be effectively used to develop and promote sustainable tourism at World Heritage Sites (WHSs).

More information here.

Winter School 2026

The 2026 edition of USI UNESCO Chair Winter School, titled “Taste the past. Digital media for Byzantine heritage and authentic experiences in Northern Greece”, will take place from 7 to 14 February 2026 in Thessaloniki and Kastoria (Greece).

More information here.

Master in International Tourism

Università della Svizzera italiana offers a Master in International Tourism (MIT), run by the Faculty of Economics in collaboration with the Faculty of Communication Sciences. The USI UNESCO Chair is deeply involved in this Master, through teaching, research, internships and theses opportunities.

Open Access Chapters

We are happy to announce the publication of the Handbook on Heritage, Sustainable Tourism and Digital Media, edited by Silvia De Ascaniis and Lorenzo Cantoni, published by Edward Elgar: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788970082.

More information here.

Maestros: Healers of Peru

An online exhibition curated by the UNESCO Chair (USI) showcasing the ancestral healing practices of Peruvian maestros. Through Heinz Plenge’s evocative photography, the journey reveals rituals, sacred landscapes, and spiritual connections with nature.

Explore the exhibition here!

Swiss UNESCO Commission holds an informal forum in Lugano

May 4, 2013 |

May 2, 2013. UNESCO Swiss Commission every two years organizes an event called Lugano meeting to provide an informal forum for national Commissions to review their cooperation and to discuss the common challenges they face in their work with and for UNESCO. The Lugano...

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Summer School 2014 IDEAL-Tourism

Feb 25, 2013 |

Information and communication technologies for promotion and development of sustainable tourism around cultural and natural destinations.

The case of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites

August 25-September 5, 2014
Università della Svizzera italiana
USI Lugano – Switzerland

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The Unesco Chair has been approved in Spring 2013, and established in September 2013

Feb 12, 2013 |

The UNESCO chair is committed to perform extensive research and teaching on how ICT, especially the internet, can be effectively exploited to develop and promote sustainable tourism at the World Heritage Sites (WHSs), with a special emphasis on the southern hemisphere. Its scope touches and overlaps on the following fields: eTourism, eLearning, and ICT4D (ICT for Development).

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