On the 1st and the 2nd of October, ASCAME participated in the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Sustainable Tourism Community, held in Tirana (Albania) and organised by the Community4Tourism Project on behalf of the Sustainable Tourism Mission. This is an Interreg Euro-MED Programme‘s mission, which aims at reinforcing the commitment and the implementation of initiatives towards a more sustainable tourism.
During the opening session, Mr. Luis Miranda, ASCAME’s Project Manager, took the stage on behalf of the lead partner Dialogue4Tourism, an Interreg Euro-MED project dedicated to enhancing coordination and institutional capacity among public authorities, multi-level bodies, programmes, strategies, and initiatives focused on sustainable tourism and governance across the Euro-Mediterranean region. Mr. Miranda talked about the Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories, a platform that unites stakeholders, policymakers, and institutions from the Mediterranean. He also shared upcoming initiatives, including white papers exploring the power of partnerships in driving circular tourism in the MED, and the role of small islands as hubs for climate resilience and sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean.
ASCAME’s partner, the RECIRCLE MED Project, also attended this meeting. This was an excellent opportunity to connect with peers, share insights, and collaborate on a greener future for tourism in the region. The RECIRCLE MED is an Interreg Euro-MED Programme project that aims to promote sustainable tourism in Mediterranean coastal areas by integrating blue and circular economy principles through local engagement, cross-border cooperation, and tailored actions that address key environmental challenges.
Innovative Thematic Projects Driving the Sustainable Tourism Mission
On the first day of the meeting, ASCAME attended an insightful session, structured in 4 panels, where thematic projects from the Sustainable Tourism Mission coming from different topics (Innovation, Circular Economy, Climate Change, and Nature and Biodiversity) presented their main innovations and reflected on their participatory approach and the involvement of their stakeholders. These were the main contributions from de 4 panels:
▶️ Panel 1: Innovation Thematic Projects (Libeccio, MedDiet Go, Tourismo, SMITour).
- Main innovations: They talked about digital tools, digital platforms connected to physical spaces, the usage of the destination management support system (data management), and innovation platforms as a forum for collaboration.
- Participatory approach: They discussed co-evaluation and co-development from the design to the implementation phase, the usage of Living Labs to involve all kinds of stakeholders, the participatory design of the project with the involvement of stakeholders, and specific focus groups for each pilot with key stakeholders and tailored business strategies.
▶️ Panel 2: Circular Economy Thematic Projects (MAST, MED-Routes, RECIRCLE MED, GreenSE).
- Main innovations: Selection of operators (including only operators implementing circular economy approaches), a blueprint with a joint approach about how to integrate blue economy and circular economy, and how to transform it into future actions, and developing Blue Plans for circular tourism.
- Participatory approach: Setting up participatory labs for each participant area; co-creation of the Blue Action Plans with local stakeholders and validation through participatory workshops.
▶️ Panel 3: Climate Change Adaptation Thematic Projects (COOL NOONS, HERIT ADAPT, NaTour4CChange, MED4REGEN, REGENERA4MED, AQUAMAN, WATERISE).
- What is new? Design-driven tools, working groups with operators from different sectors of activity (climate change, tourism, and heritage) to develop a common understanding for later feasibility studies.
- Main problems moving to adopt strategies for climate change: The limited institutional capacity, the need to develop specific “tool kits” for different sectors, the barriers among different levels of governance (local-regional-national), the resistance to changing the traditional touristic model, the fragmentation of the decision-making process, the lack of awareness, and engagement.
Panel 4: Nature and Biodiversity Thematic Projects (MED-GIAHS, INSPIRE, TO CARE MED, ECOSEAROUTES, Port-CREW, DarkSkyTour).
- Main innovations: Co-creation of stategies and tools, the adoption of a bottom up approach, mapping agro biodiversity, the promotion of local and seasonal products, rising awareness form the farm to the fork strategy, developing a tourism plan to promote inland areas connectd with “heritage apps” (with historial and cultural knowledge of these territories), and developing a tool to have a real picture of eco-tourism.
- Participatory approach: Promoting a culture of being ambassadors of local culture and biodiversity in the rural areas, empowering local communities, encouraging tourists to adopt sustainable tourism models of consumption, new management involving local stakeholders to implement locally based solutions, and information campaigns to tourists to avoid over-tourism.
In the afternoon, Dr. Andrian Vaso, a Senior Environmental Consultant, presented the “Practices Handbook”, containing the mapping practices across 8 countries and 3 shores of the Mediterranean, and opening a discussion/ reflection about how and why to integrate the “Integrated Coastal Zone Management” (ICZM) and the Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP).
About the Sustainable Tourism Mission
The Sustainable Tourism Mission of the Interreg Euro-MED Programme focuses on fostering circular tourism, considering the sustainability of ecosystem services and using innovative technologies, and promoting the preservation of natural resources and cultural heritage. The governance projects –Community4Tourism and Dialogue4Tourism–, together with the rest of the thematic projects under this mission, work jointly to develop solutions and promote cooperation in the Euro-MED and beyond, to increase the coordination level and institutional capacity to make tourism greener, smarter, and more resilient.