Digital applications and river heritage: the inherited landscape of Venice's histoirc waterways

In the last decade, there has been growing interest in tourism studies related to rivers and historic canals. The multifaceted value inherent in waterways – historical, cultural, social and environmental – has prompted increasing interest in the study of canals and canal tourism, especially from a management and marketing perspective (Shipley, 1999; Fyall, Oakley and Weiss, 2000 ; Monahan and Spencer, 2004 ; Prideaux and Cooper, 2009 ; Tang and Jang, 2010; Coles, Millman and Flannigan, 2013 ; Vallerani, 2013 ; Bowles, 2014 ; Chang, 2015 ; Kaaristo and Rhoden, 2016). In this chapter, following a research perspective outlined already ( Buhalis, 2003 ; Pease, Rowe and Cooper, 2007 ), we will focus on the geo-historical context of Venice’s inland canal heritage and explore the possibilities provided by the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to its water heritage in marginal areas for tourist and leisure purposes. By the use of ICTs, we are referring not only to the digitisation of all processes in the tourism, travel and hospitality industries but also to the possibilities offered by the use of different tools to enhance local awareness of their hidden heritage. The aim of this would be to foster, at a later stage, sustainable tourism in areas currently not reached by the tourist fl ows.