Economic and social disparities, mainly peripheral patterns, emigration, missing access to foreign markets/knowledge transfer endanger the competitiveness of the regions involved in the project. It promotes regional and transnational cooperation as well as attractiveness and competitiveness of cities and regions through cultural tourism, thus minimizing effects of demographic and social change while improving the quality of life. In terms of territorial cohesion the project fights the significant outward migration from rural areas by stressing their cultural potential exploiting it for sustainable economic use and developing it as part of regional identity.The project aims at preserving cultural sites, landscapes, resources starting from Romanesque integrating other period and cultural aspects, fostering their sustainable use. Capitalisation focuses on cultural tourism use for generating an economic base. Disadvantaged regions will be connected to cultural centres by employing ICT (audio guides system), promoting cooperation of small and medium sized enterprises, opening access to markets, searching for multi-sectoral approaches and integrated cultural economic concepts. Further 7,6 million citizens from the involved regions will benefit from the creation of strong regional/European identity based on common cultural-historical roots (cultural tourism experience, project communication, events),thus promoting valorisation of traditional activities. Furthermore, 11,3 million domestic and European tourists can be addressed with deepened experience of Central Europeans cultural variety as well as 1 million guests from overseas. Job opportunities for youth, student/guides/actors exchange and training, volunteering, product development targeting kids/youth also address topics related to demographic and social change.CrossCulTour considers past efforts of Interreg IIIB-project TRANSROMANICA and adds diversity of cultural heritage (CH) potential in Central Europe, recognising that a wider approach with cross-marketing-ability permits to capitalise cultural resources for a better attractiveness of cities and regions. The idea is to search for synergies, use former results and develop cross-marketing approaches to address markets with competitive cultural tourism products together, thereby assisting small and medium sized enterprises in creating employment, increase regional income but also assuring sustainable knowledge transfer and exchange. Achievements: The CrossCulTour partnership of nine institutions from Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia has successfully finalized its numerous activities in the fields of communication, knowledge transfer, strategy development, product planning and implementation, visitor guidance and overseas marketing. As a starting point, an analysis of the structures in cultural tourism was conducted and existing concepts were evaluated to identify a basis for joint strategy development. A best practice-analysis of cross-marketing partnerships in tourism and other sectors laid the foundation for a transnational event in Berlin (Germany), where the state of the art in cross-marketing was presented and future possibilities with co-operation partners were discussed. Following this identification, the project established concrete partnerships and integrated the partners in project activities whenever suitable. The scientific component of the project was led by the University of Klagenfurt (Austria). A cultural historic analysis about pilgrimage was penned and uploaded to the newly installed Online Knowledge Portal together with a historic bibliography and link collection. Two scientific Summer Schools on “Culinary Art in Medieval Times” resp. “Architecture and Symbolism” were organized and summarized as Online Magazine available on the Knowledge Portal. A 2-weeks Cultural Heritage Management Course completed the university's activities in knowledge transfer. Further long-term education in the management of cultural sites for young graduates was realized in Italy and resulted in a transnational tutorship. In Germany, tour guides were trained with workshops on “cloistral experience”. Regarding the development of tourist products, partners followed the drafted strategy and the database of business contacts: workshops with tourism experts took place, tourist packages were created anditineraries for tourists were launched. Several print products and events supported the measures to ensure public awareness. Additionally, signposts were erected in front of monuments in Germany and Italy, following an established signposting guideline. Audio-guided tours were created and uploaded to the project’s download portal. A Sales Manual and Business Newsletters were distributed to tour operators. Image Brochures in English, German and Italian display the established offers. To reach out to American and Chinese tour operators, specific offers were created and contacts established. A public mid-term event in the Province of Modena attracted around 15,000 visitors. Further, the “Policy Making Event” in Modena outlined the results and the perspectives of the CrossCulTour project. A Final Event with presentations on the project’s outputs was held in Brussels and attracted numerous actors from culture, tourism and politics. Finally, the partners held regional closing events.