A key element of the European COoperation for Sustainable Environmental Regional development through Tourism (ECOSERT) project (in the EU Inter-Regional Co-operation programme RECITE II) is the preparation of a Regional Environmental Sustainable Tourism Plan (RESTP). This is a plan that will allow environmentally sustainable tourism to be planned at regional and/or sub-regional level through the involvement and co-ordination of a wide range of public authorities, private enterprises and special interest groups (actors and beneficiaries). Under the ECOSERT Project, RESTPs will be prepared for Magnesia (in Greece), the Dee Estuary area, (led by Chester City Council in UK) and Avellino province, in Campania, (Italy).

The RESTP will allow the wise planning of tourism resources over a distinct geographical area including different local authorities and covering a time horizon of 20 years (with suitable phasing). Such a plan is needed to:

• Influence effective and balanced economic and social development, regeneration and cohesion in the respective sub-regions
  
  
• Arrest environmental degradation from neglected land uses and/or a poor distribution of tourism development, including environmental management of tourist areas
  
  
• Encourage tourist investments over a wider area and range of activities
  
  
• Diversify the tourism base over time and space, notably extending the tourism period, and promoting alternative forms of tourism, including eco-cultural tourism in the remoter areas and to help create new employment opportunities;
  
  
• Integrate potential stakeholders, tourists and interest groups (actors and beneficiaries) into the plan making process.

Uniquely the RESTP will set out, for each sub-region, a framework for sustainable tourism over the next 20 years, allowing all actors involved in tourism and related sectors to work towards a clear and common vision.

Any good plan must be acceptable in that its targeted beneficiaries support its objectives and recommendations. Guidelines for preparing the RESTP, intended to ensure that the plan is workable, realistic and acceptable, have therefore been prepared. The guidelines firstly highlight the need to integrate the RESTP with other approved plans and policies in each sub-region, so as not to prejudice these. These include policies on land use planning, environmental protection, conservation, ecology, transport and travel, cultural heritage and tourism.

The plan must also use consistent information and data to effectively profile the areas concerned and assess the impact of new proposals. Such sources are reviewed in the guidelines.

Means to obtain feedback from both the tourists themselves and those operators and interest groups involved in plan preparation have been devised. These include visitor surveys, consultation events and institutional surveys. Follow up indicators to assess impact on the wider community (including satisfaction of local actors and end beneficiaries), as well as key sectors such as tourism, socio-economic development, and the environment are also proposed in the guidelines.

As well as the RESTP strategy itself, potential sustainable tourism demonstration projects are being prepared in each sub-region as action areas. These can also provide useful feedback on the success of the proposals, and the guidelines include a range of evaluation criteria on the performance of such projects. From this assessment longer-term sustainable tourism projects, in the form of future action areas, can be identified in the sub-region, backed by guidelines to select these as part of the RESTP's overall spatial vision for tourism development in the next 20 years.