The second e-meeting of the SUSTOURISMO project on 13-14 July, tackled the state-of-the-art of sustainable tourism and mobility, and different case studies focussing on how to improve and promote more attractive and sustainable travel solutions in the ADRION area.
Dr. Maria Morfoulaki, head of the Sustainable Mobility Laboratory of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas/Hellenic Institute of Transport (CERTH/HIT), introduced the technical sessions and the main goals of the project. She underlined the importance of working on these topics especially in such a difficult time for the tourism sector due to Covid-19.
On Day 1, the Institute for Transport and Logistics (ITL), WPT1 coordinator, introduced the ongoing activities that are mapping existing policies and supporting schemes related to tourism and sustainable mobility at the European, national, regional and local levels. The CEI-Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES) presented the activities related to the analysis of the existing projects and experiences, to identify the best and bad practices and support the development and implementation of the pilot studies. Additionally, they introduced the communication activities aimed at promoting the project on social networks by means of effective strategies and targeted actions.
The Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region (RDA LUR) gave an overview of the preliminary activities about a survey that will be conducted in all the project’s countries to map the main tourist needs. All these activities will provide reliable and effective information for the SUSTOURISMO App, a tool aimed at helping tourists to adapt to sustainable tourism and mobility behaviours.
Day 2 centred on eight case studies:
The Thessaloniki case study aims at enhancing the urban sea transport to connect the city to the closest beaches and possibly develop a touristic card. In the Epirus region, the PED Epirus pilot will focus on improving connections between the port of Igoumenitsa and the urban area of Igoumenitsa and Preveza thanks to two different pilots on the improvement of the coastal line mass transit and the creation of a dedicated info board on sustainable transport solutions.
The Emilia-Romagna case study focuses on the integration of a “regional tourism section” in the existing Mobility as a Service (Maas) App and on the definition of dedicated touristic packages for enhancing sustainable mobilitys in the region.
The Friuli-Venezia-Giulia Region case study aims at identifying and promoting effective and attractive sustainable cross-border tourism solutions with keen attention on bike tours. In Ljubljana, where two partners join forces, the pilot will focus on improving the attractiveness of the bike and rail paths from the main train station to the local national parks, thanks to the valorisation of the sustainable circle around Ljubljana Moors.
In Montenegro, the Municipality of Tivat in cooperation with the municipal Tourist Organization, is working on boosting the potential of the Municipality as a tourist destination by defining three new touristic packages. In Albania, Berat’s case study focuses on promoting walking tours in its historical centre, along with adventurous solutions and bike tours in the city and the surrounding areas. Lastly, in Serbia, Belgrade will elaborate two different pilots focusing on the development of touristic packages fostering sustainable walking and bike tours within the city.
The meeting also whitnessed presentations of the stakeholders’ consultation activities by ITL, especially on the first round tables with the key local stakeholders to be conducted in September 2020. Then, the CEI-ES presented the plan for the capacity building activities, including the webinars that will have to be conducted in the next months, beginning with the first one in September 2020.
The meeting ended with the Steering Committee Group coordinated by CERTH/HIT and the challenging work plan for the forthcoming months.
This announcement has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The content of the announcement is the sole responsibility of SUSTOURISMO PP4- CEI-ES and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union and/or ADRION programme authorities.