MITOMED+ International Workshop ‘Towards sustainable maritime and coastal tourism communities’

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MITOMED+ is organising an International Workshop in Brussels on 8 November 2018 to launch a reflection on tourism sustainable management, discuss the state of the art of the EU agenda, hear experiences from different actors, and raise awareness on MITOMED+’s answer to this challenge in the Mediterranean.

Although maritime and coastal (M&C) tourism in the Mediterranean basin, which is the world’s leading tourism destination, is a growing business and a predominant source of revenue, growth and jobs, it also represents a huge challenge. Indeed, the development of tourism in the Mediterranean could be jeopardized by several factors if not managed in an adequate and sustainable way, i.e. severe anthropic impacts and environmental risks, tourism pressure on territories, coastal erosion, worsening conditions of sea water, over exploitation of natural and cultural heritage, etc.

Although many Mediterranean tourist destinations have adopted local and regional integrated strategies for tourism development, there is no real governance for tourism activities at a wider transnational level and environmental governance is still, in practice, very fragmented. Sustainable tourism managed in an integrated way is the key to protect natural and cultural assets while using them as an economic driver. This is the rationale behind the MITOMED+ (Models of Integrated Tourism in the MEDiterranean Plus) project.

The Intermediterranean Commission (IMC) of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) and NECSTouR, European Network of Regions committed to Tourism Sustainability and Competitiveness, which are partners of MITOMED+, are organising an international workshop on 8 November 2018 in Brussels.

The first part, entitled “HOW TO ENHANCE SUSTAINABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY IN M&C TOURISM - Benchmarking Process Among C&M Destinations” aims to present the main outcomes of the project and engage local and regional public entities potentially interested in replicating the project’s methodology. It is aimed to EU policy makers, destination managers, professionals in the tourism sector and regional and local policy makers, among others.

The second part of the workshop – “TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE M&C TOURISM COMMUNITIES - Capitalising experiences and tools for an innovative model of Sustainable M&C tourism” – is organised in the frame of the European Parliament’s SEARICA Intergroup. It is aimed to key tourism stakeholders, EU policy makers, regional and local authorities, among others. It intends to launch a reflection on tourism sustainable management, discuss the state of the art of the EU agenda, hear experiences from different actors, and raise awareness on MITOMED+’s answer to this challenge in the Mediterranean. Besides, on this occasion, the draft integrated MED M&C tourism management model will be presented.

This workshop will be organised in the margins of the European Tourism Day, to be held the day before (7 November) in Brussels (more information here).