Ethos & Model
Shaping Journeys into Encounters
We turn travel into a transformative act of dialogue, respect, and peace. Our ethos inspires, our model guides, and our tools make this vision actionable for communities and travelers worldwide.
Our Ethos
Heritage as a Path to Peace
Life Beyond Tourism® is founded on the idea that peace is the basis of sustainable development, and intercultural dialogue is the strategic path to achieve it. Travel is redefined: not simply leisure or consumption, but a meaningful opportunity to meet, listen, and learn from other cultures.
In this vision, World Heritage Sites are natural crossroads where people from different backgrounds gather under the same conditions of encounter. Heritage here is not only safeguarded, but also activated as a tool for dialogue, mutual respect, and peacebuilding.
Life Beyond Tourism® promotes a shift from passive tourism to active participation. Travelers become temporary residents, engaging in the cultural and social life of the places they visit, while local communities grow as learning communities, evolving through exchange and shared knowledge.
This ethos also calls for a critical understanding of territories, recognizing both their challenges and their potential. In this way, heritage is no longer just a backdrop to be protected, but a catalyst for social cohesion, sustainable growth, and lasting peace.
Our Model
From Tourism to Dialogue
The Life Beyond Tourism® Model was developed by the Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation as the operational framework to put this ethos into practice. It draws on over 30 years of international experience and is designed to be applied by institutions, enterprises, universities, and communities worldwide.
Its objective is clear:
to make World Heritage Sites not only places to protect, but active laboratories of intercultural dialogue,
to empower travelers as participants, not just consumers,
to involve local communities as co-protagonists,
and to diversify economies, reducing over-reliance on mass tourism.
The model works across three interconnected levels:
Vision – Recognizing multicultural richness as a resource for peace and rethinking hospitality as an act of reciprocity and education.
Practice – Applying concrete tools: the Life Beyond Tourism® Glossary, the Method, the DTC-LBT Certification, and Total Quality systems for continuous evaluation.
Networks – Building Learning Communities and Centers of Awareness, where residents, visitors, institutions, and enterprises collaborate to co-create knowledge and sustainable initiatives.
The model is flexible and scalable: it can be adopted by single operators, institutions, or entire territories. By transforming each site into a place of encounter and innovation, it generates both cultural and economic value, strengthening resilience against global challenges and fostering peace through cooperation.
Tools of the Model
Methods for Lasting Impact
Over time, the model has developed a set of instruments that translate values into action:
Learning Communities – spaces of shared knowledge where travelers and locals learn from each other.
Centers of Awareness – permanent hubs promoting education, intercultural dialogue, and active citizenship.
Temporary Residents – travelers engaged in authentic, respectful participation in local life.
Life Beyond Tourism® Glossary – a shared vocabulary to reduce cultural misunderstandings.
The Method – a participatory framework to design and evaluate projects.
DTC-LBT Certification – a voluntary, transparent system that makes commitments and results in intercultural dialogue visible.
Quality and Total Quality Control – ensuring cultural, social, and ethical impact, beyond economic results.
