Almost a hundred people representatives of partnerships, associated partnerships, other Programmes and the National Contact Point of Croatia participated at the event on site & online that reached a strong engagement of the local authorities.
The Interreg Euro-MED Dialogue4Tourism project, under the Sustainable Tourism Mission organized the event titled “The role of the local and Regional Governments in Enhancing Sustainable Tourism” in Poreč (Croatia)15th October.
The partner Institute of Agriculture and Tourism (Poreč), in collaboration with the lead partner El legado andalusi Andalusian Public Foundation (Regional Ministry of Culture and Sport, Andalusia, Spain) and the rest of project partners organised this event that counted on the participation on site and online of Community4Tourism Project, 8 Thematic Projects from the Sustainable Tourism Mission and other Missions and Institutional and Thematic Projects from all Interreg Euro-Med Missions.
The opening of the event began included welcome speech by Jessica Acquavita, Deputy President of Istria Region, followed by greetings from Axel Rodríguez-Garrote, a representative of the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg Euro-MED Programme, Sustainable Tourism Mission, and Juan Jesús Ruiz, a representative of the lead partner of the Dialogue4Tourism project. Dr. Dean Ban, Director of the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, briefly presented the Institute, welcomed all event participants, and expressed gratitude for their attendance.
The presentation of projects from the Interreg Euro-MED programme began with Dr. Nora Mustać from the Institute of Tourism (Croatia), the lead partner of the NaTour4CChange project – Governing sustainable tourism in territories with high environmental value: reconnecting tourism and nature for addressing the climate crisis with an ecosystem-based approach. Next, Lorena Vidas, a representative of the lead partner from the Municipality of Prato (Italy), presented the SMITour project – SMart Industrial Tourism in the Mediterranean, followed by Dr. Eudokia Balamou from ANETEL (Cyprus), the project leader, who presented the REVIVE project – Developing community based innovative business models for the revival of the internal areas in the Mediterranean. Roberta Kalčić Savatović from the City of Buzet presented the project from the Interreg Central Europe programme, More Than a Village – Smart Village transition, a model for more competitive and attractive villages in Central Europe, in which Buzet is a project partner. Dr. Ana Težak Damijanić (IPTPO) presented the GreenTEA project – Improving the educational background of Green Tourism in higher education by developing alternative educational materials and learning opportunities, which is part of the ERASMUS+ programme. The final presenter in the first section was Dr. Dolores Ordóñez from ANYSOLUTION (Spain), the lead project, who presented the D3HUB project – EU Competence Centre for Data Management in Smart Destinations, funded by EISMEA. Adriana Glavić (IPTPO) moderated the session.
Approved thematic projects within the Sustainable Tourism Mission of the Interreg Euro-MED Programme were presented by Josep Rodríguez, lead partner of Community4Tourism project, from the Barcelona Provincial Council (Spain).
The second part of the event included two round table discussions. The first round table, titled “The Role of Local and Regional Governments in Enhancing Sustainable Tourism. How can we enhance multi-level governance?” featured Loris Peršurić, Mayor of the City of Poreč, Dr. Marko Paliaga, Mayor of the City of Rovinj, Cristina Vojić-Krajcar, Marketing Manager at the Istria Tourist Board, Josep Rodríguez from the Barcelona Provincial Council, Dr. Giuliano Tallone from the Lazio Region, and José Francisco Benítez from the Ministry of Tourism and Andalusia Exterior. The panellists discussed activities in their areas, cities, and regions related to promoting sustainable tourism development as representatives of local and regional authorities. It was emphasized that multi-level governance is challenging but necessary for fostering sustainable tourism development. Dr. Kristina Brščić (IPTPO) moderated the first round table.
The second round table brought together representatives of the missions Sustainable Tourism, Natural Heritage, Green Living Areas, and Innovative Sustainable Economy within the Interreg Euro-MED programme. Participants in the round table included Vasiliki Madoulka from the Region of Crete, the lead partner of Dialogue4Nature; Bernard Massabo from the Metropole Nice Côte d’Azur, and Dr. Eudokia Balamou from ANETEL, representing the Dialogue4LivingAreas project. From Croatia, the discussion included Mislav Kovač, Head of Sector for European Territorial Cooperation and Macro-Regional Strategies at Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds of the Republic of Croatia, a partner in the Dialogue4Innovation project; Marko Opančar, National Contact Point from the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds of the Republic of Croatia; and Saša Popovac, Strategy and Business Intelligence Director at Croatian National Tourist Board. The representatives from Croatia are also associated partners of the Institute in the Dialogue4Tourism project.
The theme of the round table was connecting missions within the Interreg Euro-MED programme and other programmes and strategies. The discussion emphasized that sustainable tourism development encompasses topics addressed within the missions of Innovation, Natural Heritage, and Green Living Areas, and, as in the first discussion, highlighted the role of local and regional authorities in sustainable tourism development. The moderator of this round table was Ioannis Mardikis from the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) from Greece.
