ALTER ECO PLUS

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION RELATES TO THE PROJECT ALTER ECO PLUS THAT STARTED IN JUNE 2021

The pressures of tourism in MED are a major challenge for its sustainable future due to its seasonality and impact on limited geographic areas, which lead to an increase in the need for water resources and an increase in waste generation that exceeds carrying capacity limits (CCL) of tourist destinations. While tourism can contribute to the improvement of local social and economic conditions, it can also increase environmental pressures and jeopardize the preservation of local identity and heritage. Moreover, due to the Covid-19, social distancing imposes further limits on the CCL.Therefore, improving tourism management is essential as well as improving understanding of the pressures in order to build concrete strategies towards a more sustainable and responsible tourism model for the MED area. ALTER ECO PLUS will support "mainstreaming processes" to improve public policies related to tourism management. The starting point is the “Carrying Capacity Limit” calculation tool, a fully operational and functional tool/methodology, which will support the decision-making process and the mechanisms relating to policies to facilitate territorial absorption. The aim is to facilitate the integration of the tool which aims to balance the effects of tourism development taking into account the CCL and expanding the focus of tourism development beyond the local destination level. Our CCL tool will also provide threshold values on the risk of tourism Covid 19 pandemic contagion.

ALTER ECO

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION RELATES TO THE PROJECT ALTER ECO THAT WAS IMPLEMENTED FROM NOVEMBER 2016 TO JULY 2019

The Mediterranean is under threat due to the inappropriate practice and development associated with mass tourism. As a consequence areas of high tourist attraction in coastal cities are reaching their limit on carrying capacity, with a direct impact not only on the urban environment but on key elements that define MED Culture.In this context, ALTER ECO enhances the local sustainable development of tourism by promoting Mediterranean Identity through the implementation of alternative tourist strategies in 6 pilots co-designed and implemented by public and private stakeholders. The project provides the opportunity of testing, in representative MED cities, used as LIVING LAB, existing methodologies and tools arisen in previous high impact projects in the field of sustainable tourism or proposed by key stakeholders, with the aim of reaching holistic and realistic tourist strategies at local and regional level that allow transferability in the MED territory. Project results will support policy makers to make more informed and integrated decisions for the governance and management of tourism in the Mediterranean and at the same time will enhance the coordination of actions between public and private stakeholders towards the implementation of the raised strategies in order to create new business opportunities. ALTER ECO will contribute to improve knowledge and decision making capacities, including a better use of observation, monitoring and planning in the field of sustainable tourism.