Objectives and added value

A) General and specific objectives of the project

The project intends to provide a tested and transferable governance model for sustainable tourism in the Med area, experimenting through stakeholder-oriented actions innovative, integrated quality management and promotion strategies for fragile coastal areas, islands and protected natural areas (marine or coastal). The specific objectives are to provide a system for the extension of the tourism season and developing and enhancing new types of tourism other than the “sun and beach” model, by exploiting the natural and cultural assets of each territory. It will also address the lack of quality in the fragmented tourism supply in much of the MED through experimenting an IQM approach with key stakeholders. Furthermore, it will assess key critical areas in environmental terms for the sector (waste, marine pollution, coastal erosion etc) within an ICZM vision.

These objectives will be achieved by exploiting peer experience and shared cooperation in:

• Developing an integrated tourism strategy for fragile territories and surveying environmental risk factors
• Creating a stable network of public bodies responsible for supporting the local economy
• Creating and promoting a transnational network of thematic tourism/ cultural events
• Developing innovative solutions for balanced actions for supply and demand through shared analysis to extend the tourist season and diversify supply based on natural/cultural assets
• Assessing sustainable strategies and visitor management frameworks for protected natural areas
• Ascertaining transferability of pilot actions
• Developing criteria shared by local operators for total quality tourism
• Sharing services for institutions and local stakeholders cooperation in partnership embodying a medium-long term transnational investment
• Enhancing promotional and marketing capacities in public bodies
• Ensuring the capacity building of local public bodies through an experimental cooperative horizontal approach from peer experience.

The real impact of the project will be:

• A strengthening of institutional-stakeholder governance of the system through commonly-defined balanced actions
• The establishment of a system for identifying stakeholder concerted actions
• Benefits for the economy leading to improved employment, an extended season and a stronger positioning of natural tourism supply
• Conservation and valorisation of natural resources as a driver for balanced economic growth
• Experimentation of a cooperative tourism strategy and identification of a total quality management system for fragile coastal and island areas
• An improvement in the quality and governance of the tourist supply in fragile areas through a stakeholder-driver strategy
• Providing tested transferable models for sustainable tourism strategies to be mainstreamed into Regional Programmes

B)Transnational added value of the project

Initially the transnational exchange of experience and expertise in developing sustainable tourism strategies will enable partners to improve their global management of the tourist system. The main transnational value of the project lies in the joint development of innovative solutions for balanced actions for supply and demand to extend the tourist season and diversify supply based on natural/cultural assets. All partners will work together on the relevant different typologies of Mediterranean territories to develop and test these solutions. This will allow them to develop an integrated, shared tourism strategy for fragile territories and ascertain the transferability of pilot actions. An experimental cooperative horizontal approach will ensure the partners’ capacity building. The partnership embraces the key stakeholders - regional authorities and business community institutions to ensure sustainable impact. The partnership will allow for maximum benefit from exchange and reinforce its impact, involving a mix of regional/local authorities with a specific sustainable tourism agenda and Chambers responsible for implementing economic development strategies. A key output of the project reflecting its transnational value will be the jointly developed Total Quality Charter representing a transferable integrated quality management model for the promotion and territorial marketing of sustainable tourism in fragile areas in line with EU, national and regional strategies.