During the Interreg MED 2014-2020 period 9 Emblematic Med Mountains territories from 5 countries were successful in designing, developing and applying a methodology to create eco-itineraries & related sustainable tourism products in their hinterland. This approach has been summarized into the output “Transferability guide for the implementation of an eco-itinerary”.

The EMbleMatiC Plus project aims to extend the implementation of this approach to benefit 3 new countries & 4 new territories (2 in Italy-North & South, 1 in Croatia & 1 in Montenegro). The current project faces the methodological challenge of adapting a transfer guide into a transfer process that will be adjustable to get the best results when facing the large variety of local contexts & transferability potential of the new receivers.

More concretely, this transfer is addressing the territorial challenges (spatial, temporal, economical) that motivated the creation of this new form of tourism in the hinterland: by working on creating eco-itineraries, receivers’ territories will contribute to re-balance tourist flows between the sea and the mountain, to extend the seasonality & to improve economic returns.

Givers capitalised on their previous experience by examining potential receivers’ territories to ensure that they present similar characteristics (i.e. rural, islands, protected areas) and have the competences to uptake the EMbleMatiC output.

For a year, EMbleMatiC PLUS transferring project involved 7 partners, 3 givers from the previous EMbleMatiC project, 4 new receivers. These partners are members of the EMM network (Emblematic Mediterranean Mountains) and committed to adopt a more responsible and sustainable tourism development model located in their hinterland coastal areas with strong rural and island characteristics.

They worked together to deepen and extend the first EMbleMatiC project results by applying to 4 new territories, the “Transferability guide for the implementation of an eco-itinerary”. 9 previously created eco-itineraries contribute to geographically rebalance visitors flows, to extend the seasonality, to reduce environmental impact whilst generating economical returns for these low-density areas.

This first transferring experience was successfully completed by June 2022!

For 4 months, receivers worked with Coaching team(trainer & assessor) & givers to ensure the compliance of all considered aspects for their future eco-itinerary with the 30 attributes from the previously applied TOR for creating eco-itineraries.

In March, each receiver tested their initial proposal of route, activities, stakeholders… by organising an on-site visit and welcoming for 2 days an assessing team consisting of 3 key experienced and complementary givers & the assessor from the coaching team (responsible for guiding the co-built transferring process with accuracy but also flexibility to maximise impact for each receiver’s local context).

The results of these on-site cross-analysis & peer reviews are summarized into each receiver “Transferability diagnosis” released in April.

By then, receivers were able to use their diagnosis insights and personalised recommendations, to elaborate and write an individualised “local implementation action plan for the future creation of their eco-itinerary” beyond the duration of this current project.

These plans were presented & discussed among peers’ prior delivery of final versions by June.

They provide receivers with a roadmap to create an alternative tourism product offer for their visitors, whilst remaining open plans to be pursued by each territory stakeholders with additional means to be found.

These results and outputs are available on project website, summarized into a leaflet and publicised on social networks. Their impact is also emphasized by the recording & dissemination work carried out by the Interreg Med programme sustainable tourism community.

THE MODULAR INTERREG APPROACH PROVIDED THE FRAMEWORK.

Project partners adopted the Interreg MED cooperation modular approach to set-up the project around three “modules”, corresponding to different phases of a public intervention, namely:

• A STUDYING phase, with the development of strategies and policies focusing on an in depth study on our EMbleMatiC dimension, creating an operative methodological framework, applying it to each territory and an overall study report for the network of Emblematic Mediterranean mountains.
• A TESTING phase, to implement pilot projects, focusing on a brief marketing that provides the common frame of reference for the implementation of unique eco-itineraries for each partner
• A TRANSFERRING phase, to capitalise results at transnational level, focusing on a transfer guide for eco-itineraries and on a quality referential for the emblematic Mediterranean mountains.