On July 12 and 13, 2022, the sixth meeting of the SUSTOURISMO project took place in Berat, Albania. It was the first physical meeting since the beginning of the project and it was an opportunity not only to discuss the progress of the project activities, but also to get to know each other better and to strengthen cooperation. The main topics of discussion were i) the presentation and analysis of the data collected during the 2021 test period in the ten pilot areas and the actions planned for the second phase of the pilot test, this one in the summer of 2022; ii) ongoing strategic activities focused on disseminating key lessons learned from SUSTOURISMO, focusing on the SUSTOURMOB Strategy, evaluation of pilot cases, business plans and final project recommendations. The discussions were the basis for determining how to further improve and promote SUSTURISM tourist packages during the 2022 tourist season and how to better disseminate the lessons learned at the EU level.

Evis Plaku, representative of the Berat District Council, welcomed all the partners of the SUSTOURISMO project. He introduced the meeting by explaining the importance of sustainable tourism in the development and promotion of Berat District.

Dr. Maria Morfoulaki, head of the Laboratory for Sustainable Mobility of the Research and Technology Center Hellas/Hellenic Institute of Transport (CERTH/HIT), opened the technical session of the meeting. He emphasized that after the completion of the first preliminary technical activities, the main challenges for all project partners are now related to the promotion of pilots after the emergency COVID-19 and the importance of continuous monitoring of the use of the SUSTOURISMO application to achieve the goals. He also referred to the new technical activity related to the promotion of the potential of sports/athletic tourism that is in charge of ADRION MC.

After the introductory part, the technical activities started with the presentation of CERTH/HIT on the work package dedicated to the involvement of interested parties and the mapping of tourism needs (WPT1). This technical session was mainly dedicated to updating the Memorandums of Understanding and Letters of Support signed (or to be signed) in each pilot area, in order to support the promotion of local SUSTOURISMO tourism packages and to disseminate the main results and cooperation schemes at the level European.

The second part of the meeting was devoted to the monitoring activities of the SUSTOURISMO application and the monitoring/evaluation of the pilot actions (WPT2). The Foundation Institute of Transport and Logistics (ITL) presented the data collected through the SUSTOURISMO application during the year 2021 and the first half of 2022. This assessment made it possible to collect data on the number of downloads/users and registered users. The data presented shows how the application was downloaded and installed several times, mainly during the summer season 2021. The most important indicator showed that in June 2022, 350 users were registered in the SUSTOURISMO application and 214 tourist packages were activated, at least once.

The following presentations were devoted to pilot case updates. In summary, it is possible to summarize all the individual presentations based on the need to simplify some pilot actions, to expand the network of stakeholders to be involved, to define new promotional actions to increase the number of tourists who use tourist packages and to intensify communication campaigns. (social media and physical campaign) to better reach SUSTOURISMO target groups.

The first day of the meeting ended with a visit to the historical center and the UNESCO fortress of Berat, included in the SUSTOURISMO tourist package of the Berat District Council.

The second day of the SUSTOURISMO project meeting started with the presentation of the CERTH/HIT dedicated strategy (common to the whole area and personalized strategies) that will be followed beyond the duration of the project to pave the way for sustainable tourism in the ADRION region ( Cycle / Strategy SUSTOURMOB). These strategies will be based on the main results of the project and on the active involvement at the local level of the different actors identified in the field of each project. In order to achieve these goals, specific events will be organized in the following months. In particular, ITL is working on organizing the 3rd session of local roundtables focused on the analysis with key stakeholders of the main results of the pilot actions and CEI-ES is working on the 4th SUSTOURISMO capacity building webinar with level speakers held between October / November 2022.

In the end, PIL presented the work related to the effective development of the business plan of the SUSTOURISMO application. The focus will be on the driving forces, the marketing potential, as well as the actions to be taken by companies interested in the successful adoption of SUSTOURISM initiatives (tourist applications and packages). For this purpose, the CANVAS approach of the business model will be used.

The last part of the meeting was coordinated by the Central European Initiative – Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES) and focused on presenting the progress of communication activities. In particular, it focused on updating the SUSTOURISMO website, ongoing digital activities, the next Newsletter and a first look at the final publication. CEI-ES announced that the final SUSTOURISMO meeting will be held in Trieste in December 2022.

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DISCLAIMER

This announcement was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The content of the announcement is the sole responsibility of SUSTOURISMO PP3 (Institute of Transport and Logistics) and in no case can be considered as reflecting the position of the European Union and/or the authorities of the ADRION program.