Marseille, 17 March 2017. “There are plenty of excellent local projects that have developed innovative solutions to meet tourists’ exigencies with environmental protection practices” declared Sophie Scarvelis, Project Officer of the Joint Secretariat of the InterregMed Programme, during the Kick-off meeting of the Med Community on Sustainable Tourism, in Marseille (France) on 16th – 17th March. “However – continues Scarvelis – they were too small to make their voices heard and to influence the policy making process.”
BleuTourMed_C3 project is providing collaborative projects implemented at the local scale with the opportunity to disseminate better their results and, ultimately, to influence the policy making process in close cooperation with the Axis 4 “Governance” of the Interreg Med programme. “This is an unprecedented tool to bring the results attained in the field directly on the table of the regional and national public authorities” affirmed Patrizia Busolini, Project Officer of InterregMed in charge of Axis 4 – Mediterranean Governance.
The Med Community on Sustainable Tourism just launched in Marseille (France) is mobilised by the BleuTourMed_C3 project, which facilitates the knowledge sharing and the capitalisation of results of 14 cross-Mediterranean modular projects active in nine countries. During this two-day meeting, more than 70 participants had the opportunity to know each other, to share their challenges, to discover potential synergies and to launch ideas for further collaboration.
The BleuTourMed_C3 is a three-year project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, within the InterregMed Programme. The partnership is composed by Latin Arc (Lead Partner), Barcelona Provincial Council, Plan Bleu for the environment and development in the Mediterranean, UNIMED – Mediterranean Universities Union, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Adriatic Ionian Euroregion.
The modular projects within this Community are: ALTER ECO (Alternative tourist strategies to enhance the local sustainable development of tourism by promoting Mediterranean Identity), BLUEISLANDS (Seasonal variation of waste as effect of tourism), BLUEMED (Plan/test/coordinate Underwater Museums, Diving Parks and Knowledge Awareness Centres to support sustainable and responsible tourism development and promote Blue growth in coastal areas and islands of the Mediterranean), CASTWATER (Coastal areas sustainable tourism water management in the Mediterranean), CO-EVOLVE (Promoting the co-evolution of human activities and natural systems for the development of sustainable coastal and maritime tourism), CONSUME-LESS (Consume Less in Mediterranean Touristic Communities), DestiMED (Mediterranean Ecotourism Destination: joint planning, monitoring, management and promotion for a governance system in Mediterranean protected areas), EMbleMatiC (Emblematic Mediterranean Mountains as Coastal destinations of excellence), MEDCYCLETOUR (MEDiterranean CYcle route for sustainable coastal TOURism), MEDFEST (MED Culinary heritage experiences: how to create sustainable tourist destinations), MITOMED+ (Models of Integrated Tourism in the MEDiterranean Plus), ShapeTourism (New shape and drives for the tourism sector: supporting decisions, integrating plans and ensuring sustainability), SIROCCO (Sustainable InterRegional cOastal & Cruise maritime tourism through Cooperation and joint planning), TOURISMED (Fishing Tourism in the Mediterranean region for sustainable development).
For further details please contact bleutourmed@gmail.com
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