A dedicated call has been published for western Mediterranean stakeholders (northern and southern shore) under the EMFAF (European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund). This fund addresses green and sustainable coastal and maritime tourism. This webinar, that took place on 3 November, discussed the state of the art of green and sustainable tourism across the region, with a focus on its challenges and highlight innovation opportunities.
As more regions and countries develop their tourism industries, the effects on natural resources, consumption patterns, pollution, and social systems are significant, creating an ever-rising ecological footprint. The need for long-term, responsible planning and management is critical for the industry especially in a post-Covid-19 era. Innovation therefore plays a key role in the sustainable development of the sector. But innovation should be reflected in a number of areas: from diversification of touristic offers, to acceleration of innovation and skills uptake for SMEs and other actors, up to the reinforcement of effective enabling conditions – including robust process for data availability and stakeholders engagement – and overall good sectoral governance across the region. The good news is that a number of valuable practices exist in those areas across the Mediterranean, and could be drown upon to foster greater regional innovation. Also, some relevant policy initiatives are being set-up to accelerate the needed sectoral ‘transition’, through knowledge-sharing and capacity building.
By sharing the most recent policy actions and a range of practices of excellence across the western Mediterranean, this webinar contributed to this innovation process across the Mediterranean, towards a fully sustainable tourism sector.
TOURISME participated with the intervention “Improving sustainability of tourism SMEs through knowledge transfer, international cooperation and multi-stakeholder engagement" during the afternoon session on fostering enabling conditions.
Source: https://tourisme-project.eu