3rd Inter-Regional Workshop
on :
Implementing Sustainable
Tourism Projects
Monday 8 July 2002
At:
Conza della Campania
Provincia di Avellino
Italy
Purpose and Scope
The overall purpose of the Inter-Regional Workshop
was to engage discussion and gather the opinion
on the design and implementation of the demonstration
projects and to assess the role of such projects
in contributing to the overall aim of promoting
environmentally sustainable tourism and diversifying
tourist attractions in areas currently over-shadowed
by more popular, mass tourism destinations or
lacking in tourism demand despite the availability
of eco-cultural assets. In particular, the Workshop
discussed the synergies in approach and best
practices achieved through the demonstration
project experience (as well as comparing these
with other examples of best practice).
This involved discussion on the approach, methodology
and principal components of the methodology
(notably in terms of its strengths and weaknesses)
with regards to tourism and environmental planning,
the co-ordination of actors who previously had
little collective involvement in tourism planning,
and opportunities for marketing the projects.
The Workshop concluded on the practical applications
of sustainable tourism projects and how these
can contribute to the wider RESTP methodology
of promoting eco-cultural tourism and environmental
sustainability at a spatial level.
The Workshop focused on the experiences
of implementing the demonstration projects in
the ECOSERT regions, in terms of principles
and challenges involved, the problems encountered,
the solutions tried and found most appropriate,
the resulting achievements, the involvement
of stakeholders (actors and beneficiaries),
as well as the legacy of the demonstration projects
within ECOSERT.
Overall Conclusions
The overall conclusions of the
workshop are summarized as below.
There have been many policy initiatives
by the European Commission in recent years to
promote and encourage new forms of sustainable
tourism, based on the formation of partnerships,
dissemination of knowledge and experience, as
well as the exploitation of Europe's rich eco-cultural
heritage in non traditional tourist areas. This
top-down policy approach is well complemented
by ECOSERT's bottom-up approach involving a
new methodology to undertake sustainable tourism
projects as part of a wider spatial strategy
and through new partnerships in tourism planning.
Important support can also given
be given to demonstration projects by national
Governments, notably in Italy where projects
such as those advocated in ECOSERT are encouraged.
When implementing complex sustainable
tourism development projects, it is important
to clearly define objectives and key issues
early on so that potential conflicts, notably
between those on conservation and tourism development,
can be resolved. Partnerships in this respect,
under an umbrella such as ECOSERT or in the
longer term through the RESTP itself, are very
much needed to ensure that project implementation
can actually take place and that essential compromises
between interest groups can be reached.
Participation by both public and
private sectors was considered important to
help ensure the viability of projects. There
was also a need not to underestimate legal and
ownership issues as obstacles arose mostly from
institutional bottlenecks rather than costly
infrastructure requirements.
Simple infrastructure works, such
as those for new surfacing, lighting and signage,
can be very important for increasing the sustainability
of tourist projects and increase their attraction
to visitors. These should be backed by adequate
marketing, preferably integrated as part of
a common strategy. The key to success is often
to focus on simple but effective measures and
not try to be over-ambitious so that cost and
time-related targets are realistic and achievable.
Streamlining of bureaucratic procedures
to facilitate expedient and effective implementation
of the project is often necessary. This can
again only be achieved through consensus of
different partners and actors and beneficiaries.
It is hoped that willingness to implement a
RESTP by a wide range of parties could facilitate
a more flexible approach. Again, such positive
reactions can only realistically be achieved
when there is a fully integrated tourism policy
put into place with strong partnerships involving
both the private and public sectors.
There had been generally a very
positive reaction to the demonstration projects
by both the public and actors and beneficiaries,
and the need to include on-the-ground projects
as part of the RESTP methodology is very important
to retain the general public's enthusiasm for
a spatial planning strategy. |
