What we do
We recognize the importance of the Mediterranean coastal area as a global tourist hotspot, boasting natural beauty, rich cultural heritage, and deep-rooted traditions. The Mediterranean coastal area is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world due to its natural landscapes, cultural heritage, and traditions. The five involved partners represent important tourism destinations relevant for the project scope, with similar negative impacts due to their regional over-tourism. However, increasing tourist pressure and the overexploitation of natural resources represent a huge threat to the integrity of the natural and cultural heritage that characterize this specific geographical area and to the environmental sustainability of interested areas. Indeed, mass tourism often leads to serious degradation of natural landscapes, environmental pollution, exploitation of water resources and cultural disruption.
The accommodation industry is gradually becoming the greatest example of why running a sustainable business will be crucial for long-term success. As costs continue to rise, demand becomes more sensitive to sustainability and the pressure on being economically, socially, and environmentally responsible grows, sustainable management is an important condition for ensuring the well-being, quality of life, safety, and empowerment of tourism stakeholders and reducing its environmental footprint.
Many models, methods and tools can help SMEs accommodation to create or accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable tourism. In particular, the adoption of International Standards can significantly contribute to the sustainable growth of companies, facing the enormous challenges resulting from the complexities of current social, environmental, market and technological trends. In this perspective, management systems emerge as a key element to assist the continuous improvement of organizations’ performances.
HOW WILL WE DO IT?
Through the following work packages, we aim to overcome differences and unite the European entrepreneurs around the common goal of reshaping tourism in more sustainable ways, oriented towards ecosystem integrity, economic efficiency, and social equity:
- State of the art: study on sustainability in the accommodation sector
- Sustainability Protocol definition
- Sustainability Self-Assessment tool development
- Validation of project outputs through stakeholders involvement
- Dissemination and EU networking
