SUS TOWNS
“Enhancing SUStainable tourism attraction in small fascinating MED TOWNS”
The Mediterranean region is characterized by numerous small towns, which have become tourist destinations over time, attracting many visitors thus favoring both economic growth and spatial expansion. The fluctuation of these tourist flows, however, has not progressed smoothly over the years, creating big needs in a short period of time for municipalities lacking the necessary infrastructure, causing over-priced services to the local community.
OBJECTIVE
The project aims at ensuring that small towns and settlements, as subjects of increased tourism trends, can avoid the destruction of their sensitive ecosystems by these flows. The main results of the project are to promote good practices in tackling the cumulative impacts of massive tourism, by identifying new methods that can stabilize touristic flows without burdening the environment. These results will be useful for all these small Mediterranean cities that would otherwise find their existence distorted by the effects of Mass Tourism. The challenge of the project is to manage tourism marketing processes, avoiding the aggravating tourist impacts that result in the collapse of key public services and cultural heritage distortion.
ACTIONS – RESULTS
The objectives of the project can be achieved through the good practices exchange between the partners involved, as the problems of the tourism sector are getting increasingly interconnected, especially in the Mediterranean basin.
In detail, the intensive tourist exploitation of small Mediterranean towns, with its consequent impact on the territories and the environmental, historical, cultural and socio-economic sectors, is common. In all Mediterranean countries, there have been disruptions to local ecosystems through the creation of tourism structures, entertainment venues and other facilities in the name of a massive but time-limited tourist demand. As tourism trends change, these small towns and villages have resulted in over-sized infrastructures in comparison to the tourism demand. This fact puts overloads the local characteristics of these areas. Therefore, the added value of transnational cooperation is to find solutions that can provide common methodologies and tools designed to prevent small cities from being subject to uncontrolled tourist exploitation.
ANATOLIKI SA participates in the project with the Municipalities of Volvi and Aristotle as associated partners. The role of the municipalities will be to exchange knowledge and practices on increased tourism flows management and sustainable tourism promotion, as well as adapting good practices of sustainable tourism development.
The Partnership consists of 10 partners from 7 countries:
- Lazio Region Association of Cities and Municipalities-ANCI LAZIO (Lead Partner, Italy)
- MUSOL foundation (Spain)
- BSC, Business Support Centre, Kranj (Slovenia)
- ΑΝΑΤΟLIKI SA (Greece)
- Association of Albanian Municipalities (Albania)
- The most beautiful villages of Italy (Italy)
- FEDERACION ARAGONESA DE MUNICIPIOS, COMARCAS Y PROVINCIAS (Spain)
- Island Development Agency Ltd (Croatia)
- University of Algarve (Portugal)
- Make it better Alentejo (Portugal)
Total Project Budget: 2.872.000,00 €
Budget of ΑΝΑΤΟLIKI SA: 335.000,00 €
Starting date: 1/11/2019, Ending date: 30/6/2022 (32 Months)
Website: https://sustowns.interreg-med.eu/