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NECSTouR is a network of European Regions committed to the aim of delivering sustainable and competitive tourism.

NECSTouR represents regional authorities and associated members (tourism enterprises/associations representatives, research

centers and universities). The network objectives are to develop a strong framework for regional cooperation at European level, to

conduct research and contribute to the European tourism policy.

Regional focus: Catalonia

Catalonia is a thousand-year-old region, which language

and culture have gradually shaped its personality,

becoming a captivating destination which attracted more

than 15 million international tourists in 2013.

Although most visitors choose the coastline as their destination, its inland,

has countless resorts, monuments and unique landscapes that deserve a

strong recognition. Catalonia has a total of 21 natural protected spaces

gathering around 650.000 hectares of its territory.

The region covers an area of 31,930 km2 in which it is possible to drive

from the sea to the snow in 90 minutes and to visit within a city

Romanesque and Art Nouveau monuments in just a five minutes’ walk.

Catalonia offers opportunities for: Sun and sand, Sport, Gastronomy,

Museums, Theatre and Music, Skiing and a wide range of activities suiting

all tastes and ages.

The Catalan capital is the city of Barcelona which enjoys a prime location,

bathed by the sea and has excellent transport links with the rest of Europe.

The gastronomy of Catalonia is currently enjoying one of its most

flourishing periods, thanks to the creativity of chefs famed as amongst the

best in the world. Since 2002, Barcelona has been awarded the distinction

Gourmande, and the Region counts with sixty-three Michelin stars

restaurants.

Sustainable tourism is also priority as they are founding members of

NECSTouR since 2009. The Catalan Strategic Tourism Plan 2013-2016

defines the principles of the regional tourism model and contains

guidelines for developing tourism governed by the criteria of sustainable

competitiveness.

NECSTouR 2014 AGM & REGIONAL CONFERENCE

This year, the Catalan Government, the Catalan

Tourism Board and the University of

Girona welcomed NECSTouR Annual General

Meeting and Regional Conference on 8th

and 9th

April

2014.

During these two days, internal and public meetings, thematic workshops, as well

as brainstorming sessions took place under the theme “Innovative tourism for

growth and jobs”. Participants had the occasion to share their vision about the

“tourism of the future” and the role of NECSTouR with a 2020 perspective. The

foremost NECSTouR event gathered around 60 European tourism

stakeholders!

NECSTouR also welcomed the adhesion of new members: South Limburg,

Sardegna, HES-SO School of Management and Tourism Institute, Malta Hotels &

Restaurants Association and Parco Nazionale della Sila!

LATEST NEWS

►Contact the Permanent Secretariat

Coordinator: Cristina Núñez

Mail: cristina.nunez@necstour.eu

Mobile: +32 487425818

Phone: +32 26406151

Skype: NECSTouR

Officer: Sandra De Puig

Mail: info@necstour.eu

Phone: +32 26406151

Skype: NECSTouR Communication

Ms Sylvie Perucca collaborated with

NECSTouR during her 4 months internship

dealing with communication, monitoring of

EU programmes, events organization and

administrative support to the association.

FOLLOW US on TWITTER!

@NECSTouR Network of European Regions for a

Sustainable and Competitive

Tourism #EU #Destination

#Culture #Regions #Universities

#Industry #Sustainability

#Quality #neZEH

SEPTEMBER

2014

NEWSTouR

N°14

NECSTouR

62 rue du Trône - Boîte n°10

1050 Bruxelles – BELGIUM

0032 2 741 87 52

info@necstour.eu

www.necstour.eu

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NECSTouR's Special Guest

NECSTouR is reinforcing its cooperation and synergies with

the European Commission, in particular with the DG

Enterprise and Industry. This is highlighted by the

participation of Mr. Pedro Ortún, Director of Directorate E,

to NECSTouR Executive Committee on December 2013 and to

its General Assembly in Catalonia last April.

Mr. Ortún recognised that NECSTouR members play a

relevant role in the implementation of the EU Tourism Policy

while contributing to the Europe 2020 objectives in the

territory. He stated that Regions are crucial to get the EU

Institutions and its citizens closer. Thus, he encouraged

NECSTouR to spread its voice and to grow!

Activities

Sustainable Tourism Indicators The work focus of NECSTouR Indicators Task Force (NIT) for

2013 and 2014 has been concretely devoted to the ETIS first

implementation pilot phase of some NECSTouR Destinations.

Specific attention has been given to share the experiences by

the involved NECSTouR Regions/destinations, to identify the

ETIS benefits and obstacles, as well as to find joint solutions

and synergies with other non-NECSTouR destinations

implementing this European system.

NECSTouR Coordinator was invited during the ETIS

workshop organized by the European Commission on July 4th

,

to present how the NIT has been contributing to the ETIS first

and second pilot phases and the network's potential to

contribute to the ETIS sustainability. NECSTouR Members:

Alqueva Dark Sky and A.T.L. del Cuneese - Cuneo Alps and

Cities of Art presented their case study at this ocassion.

The European Commission recognised the high knowledge

experience of NECSTouR Members in this field and looks for

closer cooperation.

Innovative Tourism for Growth and Jobs Innovation is at the center of the European political agendas

and is considered essential for enhancing the competitiveness

and economic growth of Europe. Considering that innovation

can be tackled from multiple perspectives: research &

development, technology transfer, development of new

business concepts, social or organizational interactions,

NECSTouR has been liaising the tourism sector with the EU

2020 Innovation priority. As such, the following initiatives

have been proposed:

NECSTouR AGM’14 focused on “Innovative Tourism for

growth and Jobs”. The Public Seminar dealt with Tourism

and Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) as well as Tourism

and Social Innovation.

NECSTouR members were encouraged to intervene in events

related to innovation such as DANTE Final Conference

where Canton Valais presented their actions according to

implementation of a digital agenda within the regional

tourism initiatives.

A joint event with ERRIN is foreseen for September 2014

which will focus on the role of ICTs for the benefit of

tourism in the framework of the regions S3.

Tourism, Innovation and Sustainability are a guiding thread

for NECSTouR forthcoming strategic actions and look

forward to consolidate Tourism as a key sector to contribute

to the EU 2020 objectives in the territory.

Accessibility “Tourism for All” implies integrating accessibility in all its

large terms into the whole tourism value chain, in order to

ensure tourism destinations accessible for everyone.

NECSTouR Accessibility Task Force, coordinated by Veneto

and Île-de-France Regions, closed during NECSTouR

AGM’14 the first peer review cycle on NECSTouR

Accessible regions which consisted on two parts:

1) Analysing the regional cases of Flanders, Catalonia,

Ile-de-France, Veneto and their integration of

accessibility in the tourism strategies

2) Developing a Roadmap for Accessible Tourism

Destinations based on the previous studies

NECSTouR Accessibility Task Force successfully

participated in the Conference “Mind the Accessibility

Gap: Rethinking Accessible Tourism in Europe” held by

the EC on 6th

June where NECSTouR coordinator,

moderated the Session on Good Practices Examples. The

event aimed at presenting the results of 3 European

Commission’s studies on Accessible tourism in Europe,

which were undertaken by ENAT with whom NECSTouR

cooperated. The Regional Minister for Tourism of Veneto,

Mr. Finozzi, gave a strong message defending NECSTouR

Task Force as the vehicle for master accessible tourism at a

EU and national level.

The three mentioned studies are available at the European

Commission DG ENTR website.

NECSTouR Coordinator @ the EC conference of 6th June

Climate Change on Tourism Preventing Climate Change and developing mitigation

strategies is a major challenge for the EU and.

Acknowledging that tourism is both a highly-climate

sensitive sector and a vector of climate change, NECSTouR

created a Working Group on Tourism and Climate

Change, aiming at

- identifying the social, economic and environmental

impacts of Climate Change in tourism;

- studying tourism regional strategies and Good

Practices for prevention, mitigation and adaptation;

A first workshop was developed during NECSTouR

AGM’14, where NECSTouR members expressed their

interest in pursuing the exchange of public and private

initiatives on this subject.

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neZEH meeting June’14 @UNWTO

headquarter, Madrid

neZEH meeting October’13 @ Brasov

Under the framework of the European Sustainable Energy

Week, NECSTouR organized an Energy Day on “Climate

Change Mitigation through Tourism Energy Efficiency”. The

workshop aimed at analyzing showcases on climate change

mitigation through the use of renewable energy and/or

energy efficiency in the tourism sector: Regional Strategy (Île-

de-France), Local Business (Canton Valais) and the Nearly

Zero Energy Hotels -neZEH- project as an example of a

European initiative. Moreover, a debate on how these pilot

cases can be widely replicated within Europe took place,

counting with panel of experts composed by representatives

from EASME, UNWTO, CBCS and Visit Cornwall.

In view of the necessity to stimulate a behavioral change

among the industry and the policy makers for replicating

Europe wide the pilot initiatives, NECSTouR will continue

fostering the exchange of good practices and knowledge in this

field.

PROJECTS

Ongoing Projects:

Nearly Zero Energy Hotels -neZEH- project Towards a neZEH tourism industry!

NECSTouR is consortium partner of

the nearly Zero Energy Hotel

(neZEH) project, which has been running for one year and is

currently in its implementation stage.

This project is a response to the European Directive on the

energy performance of buildings1, contributing directly to the

EU 2020 targets on GHG reduction by increasing the number

of nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB).

The main goal of neZEH is to accelerate the rate of

refurbishment of existing hotels. For this purpose the

consortium partners have launched a call for pilot hotels,

aiming to select 14 pilot hotels in 7 countries - Croatia, Greece,

France, Italy, Romania, Spain, and Sweden - committed to

become a neZEH.

The European SMEs hotels interested in neZEH will benefit

from an e-tool to assess their hotel energy consumption,

training and capacity building activities, as well as marketing

material and guidelines.

Want to be a pioneer in the EU hotel industry?

Join neZEH network!

What is nZEB? Is building that has very high energy

performance and operates with a very low or nearly zero

amount of energy, using renewable energy sources to a

significant extent, including energy produced on-site or nearby.

1 2010/31/EU, EPBD recast

In order to ensure the performance of the project outcomes,

two Consortium meetings took place: one organised by

ABMEE in October 2013 - Brasov (RO), and the other one

organised by the UNWTO in June 2014 - Madrid (ES).

Closed Projects:

ODYSSEUS & T4EST successfully closed NECSTouR is proud of the successful conclusion of both

ODYSSEUS and T4EST projects. The network is ensuring

the sustainability and the continuity of both projects.

ODYSSEUS

NECSTouR is pursuing the cooperation of the ODYSSEUS

partnership. ODYSSEA and the European Institute of

Culture Routes are members of NECSTouR and the

Communauté d'Agglomération Hérault-Méditerranée (the

lead partner) is located in Languedoc Roussillon which

officially expressed the wish to joint NECSTouR.

T4EST T4EST Final Conference “Boosting the success of Tourism

Projects” was held in Brussels on September 2013.

NECSTouR assigned a cooperation agreement with FEST

which has the copyright of the PM4ESD™ (Project

Management for European Sustainable Development): a new

methodology and qualification for designing and managing

tourism projects with sustainable criteria and principles.

NECSTouR has been actively supporting the II Summer

School "Leadership and Governance in Sustainable Tourism" and

is also engaged in development joint projects with FEST.

The network is trying to find out other actions to mainstream

PM4ESD™ methodology in EU through the regions.

Awarded Projects:

MITOMED Project Models of Integrated Tourism in the Mediterranean

MITOMED Project was successfully awarded by the PO

MED programme!

The partners:

- Leader: Tuscany Region - Department of Tourism

Promotion and Development (IT)

- CNR-IBiMet (IT)

- Girona University (ES)

- Institute of Agriculture and Tourism (HR)

- ANATEL (CY)

- NECSTouR

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The project aim is to implement the MED Programme "1M-

MED14-10 - Models of Integrated Tourism in the

Mediterranean" by:

Performing a gap analysis related to maritime and coastal

tourism in the Mediterranean through an assessed system

of NECSTouR sustainable tourism indicators;

Providing a common framework to uphold EU's

"Integrated Maritime Policy" and "Agenda for a

sustainable and competitive EU tourism";

Exploring the development potential of M&C tourism as

a competitive and sustainable driver of Blue Growth

through several actions in line with EU2020;

Providing Action Plan and Guidelines to improve the

coordination of tourism strategies for future transnational

projects and to enhance synergies between tourism actors

in different MED regions.

Awarded Tender:

For the first time NECSTouR has won a Tender from the

European Commission!

The project’s “Mapping and Performance Check of the

Supply Side of Tourism Education and Training” aim is to

examine the EU 28 education and training framework for

tourism and to assess in providing the necessary labour market

skills for employers

The partners:

Leader: Center for strategy and evaluation services -

CSES

Fondazione Campus

NECSTouR

Institutional News

Tourism of the Future

NECSTouR Position Paper

The European Commission launched two Public

Consultations on the EU Tourism of the Future and on the

Regulatory and Administrative Framework on EU

Tourism.

NECSTouR prepared its position paper “Towards the

European Tourism of the Future” including strategic proposals

for more smart, sustainable and inclusive tourism in Europe.

Insights of the Tourism Action Plan

Senior & Youth Tourism: on top of the EC

Tourism Agenda

The initiative “Calypso” aims to open up new horizons for

younger and older travelers, disabled people and low-income

families, while creating new jobs and business opportunities

during offseason.

Under this framework, the European Commission “Tourism

Senior Initiative” aims at defining the framework conditions

to enhance senior citizens to travel in Europe. Following the

success of the 2013 call for proposals under this topic, the

“COSME” programme also allocates some budget to co-

finance projects that respond to this initiative.

EU Strategy for Coastal & Maritime Tourism

EU's Blue Growth strategy identifies Coastal & Maritime

Tourism as a potential sector to contributing to growth,

competitiveness and jobs creation, in particular in coastal

areas which often suffer from high unemployment.

Under this framework, the European Commission published

the Communication: “European Strategy for more

growth and jobs in Coastal and Maritime tourism” which

was presented on March’14 during the “High level

conference on Tourism and Blue Growth Strategies for the

EU” organized by the Greek Presidency in Athens.

NECSTouR members contributed to the Communication by

participating to the open consultation that preceded this

publication and by developing a NECSTouR position

paper. The strategy proposes 14 Actions to enhance the

sector's sustainability and competitiveness, and shares

good practices of existing initiatives such as Odyssea

and FEDETON (both members of NECSTouR).

European Tourism Quality Principles (ETQP)

The EC proposed a set of voluntary European Tourism

Quality Principles (ETQP) to help tourism service

providers promote the quality of their services and

strengthen consumer confidence, as well as to boost

tourism flows and competition in Europe.

The principles focus on 4 main areas that interfere on the

quality of the tourism service:

1) employee training;

2) consumer satisfaction policy;

3) cleaning and maintenance;

4) information provided to tourists.

ICT and TOURISMlink

Following the European 2020 strategies and the 2010

Communication, the European Commission DG ENTR is

working on the ICT & Tourism Initiative. The aim is to

increase the use of technology devices by the SMEs, while

boosting their competitiveness and the creation of jobs. This

initiative is developed under three action lines: i) Policy:

high-level group; ii) Technology: TourismLink; and

Operations: Tourism Business Portal.

Two ICT & Tourism events where organized by the

European Commission:

- March’14: "IT in Tourism Workshop" to present

the Tourism Business portal

- June’14 : “TOURISMlink: linking tourism

professionals with the digital market” to present the

results achieved by the TOURISMlink initiative

which aims at creating and Europe-wide online

platform to connect small travel businesses with

travel agents and tour operators

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EU Funds for Tourism

Info Day on Tourism Funding

On 20th March the EC organized the Info Day on EU Funding

for Tourism to present the funds available for tourism in the

new MFF 2014-2020 and an updated version of the “Guide

to EU Funding Programmes for Tourism

Stakeholders” published in 2012 which will be available soon.

Upcoming Calls for Proposals

for Tourism

DG ENTR

I) COSME

COSME is a European programme aiming at strengthening the

competitiveness and sustainability of the Union’s enterprises

and to encourage an entrepreneurial.

Period: from 2014 to 2020

Total Budget: €2.3bn allocated in

- Access to finance

- Access to markets

- Framework conditions

- Entrepreneurship

Tourism Work Programme 2014 Budget: €8.7 million Tourism-related objectives:

Sustainable transnational tourism products

PUBLISHED on 7th

July

DEADLINE: 7th

October 2014

Synergies between tourism, high-end and creative

industries

PUBLISHED on 18th

June

DEADLINE: 4th

November 2014

Increasing tourism flows in low/medium seasons

II) Preparatory Action:

Two Preparatory Actions where published on 8th

August

with deadline on 21st October:

“Promotion of European and transnational tourism

products with special emphasis on cultural and industrial

products”

“Tourism for All”, the goal of this call will be related to

the recommendations issued from the 3 European studies

on Accessible Tourism, mentioned above.

NECSTouR & ERRIN

Tourism Brokerage Event on COSME Calls

NECSTouR & ERRIN networks organised a successful

tourism brokerage event on May in Brussels. The event aim

at learning more about COSME calls and at facilitating

project proposals and partners search among both networks

members.

Mr. Alain Liberos, Deputy Head Unit E1 – DG ENTR, made

a general overview on the EU Tourism Policy and Initiatives,

afterwards Mrs. Cinzia De Marzo, Policy Officer of Tourism

Unit E1 - DG ENTR presented COSME Programme and the

Tourism calls for proposal 2014.

This event gathered around 80 members of both networks:

proving their high interest on deepen the knowledge on

COSME calls and on exchanging project ideas!

EVENTS’ TouR

PAST EVENTS

NECSTouR intervened in the following events:

Creative Regions for a Creative Europe (05/03/2014

– Bruxelles, BE). NECSTouR attended as a speaker this

conference organized by the Istria Region which

presented the Istria Inspirit project.

EU Manifest for Sustainable Nautical Tourism

(29/04/2014 – Bruxelles, BE) organized by FEDETON

in order to endorse the Manifest.

Swedish Regional Tourism Authorities Meeting

(03/04/2014 –Uppsala, SE). NECSTouR was invited to

present the network, invited Västra Götaland Region.

NECSTouR speaks in the Murcia Region European

Day: The European Tourism Policy and the new

Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020

(29/04/2014 – Murcia, ES)

NECSTouR presented the Industrial Tourism in

NECSTouR Regions during the Crossroads of Europe

(17-20/06/2014 – Ferrol, ES)

Workshop on the results of the first pilot phase of

ETIS (04/07/2014, Brussels – BE), where NECSTouR

members and Permanent Secretariat shared reflections

and experiences on the ETIS implementation and its

future.

UPCOMING EVENTS

1st International conference “Tourism Research

and Management in a Rapidly Changing World” by

the UK Leuven 15-16 September, Leuven -BELIGUM

TOURAGE “Developing Senior Tourism in Remote

Regions” Final Conference 18 September, Brussels –

BELGIUM

NECSTouR & ERRIN joint event “The role of ICTs

for the benefit of tourism in the framework of your

S3” 19th

September, Brussels – BELGIUM World Tourism Day 2014 – Tourism and Community

Development, by the UNWTO 27 September,

Guadalajara - MEXICO

“Destination Europe” by the Delegation of the

European Union in Indonesia 18-19 October, Jakarta -

INDONESIA

Open Days “12th European Week of Regions and

Cities” 6-9 October, Brussels - BELGIUM

World Social Tourism Forum, by ISTO 7-10 October,

São Paulo – BRAZIL

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INRouTe II International “Regional Tourism: Moving

towards a Regional TSA approach” 9-10 October,

Venice - ITALY

4th m-Tourism day: ICT and coastal Tourism for all in

the Euro Mediterranean area 14 October, Nice-FRANCE

World Summit "Destinations for All" 19-22

October, Montréal - CANADA

European Tourism Forum, 30-31 October, Naples -

ITALY

WTM World Responsible Tourism Day, by UNWTO

5 November, London - UK

1st EUREKATOURISM+ Brokerage Event on “The

advancement of the tourism industries through technology

and innovation” by EUREKATourism

13 - 14 November, Palma de Mallorca - SPAIN

1st UNWTO Conference on Accessible Tourism in

Europe 19-20 November, SAN MARINO

EUROMEETING by Tuscany Region 26-27 November,

Florence - ITALY

Global Eco Forum Inspiring Sustainability by Eco-Union

28 November, Barcelona – SPAIN

European Tourism Day,

1 December, Brussels – BELGIUM

STUDIES

A MODEL FOR SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVENESS

OF TOURISM DESTINATIONS

by Antonio Magliulo, Lupsio University

PROGRESS IN RESPONSIBLE TOURISM – VOL.2

by Harold Goodwin and Xavier Font

ENHANCING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF TOURISM

IN THE EU - AN EVALUATION OF 20 CASES OF

INNOVATION AND GOOD PRACTICE

By EC – DG ENTR

TOURISM PUBLICATIONS

EU TOURISM BAROMETER 2014

The EC has published the report on Preferences of Europeans

Towards Tourism.

UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2014 Edition

Presents an overview of international tourism in the world

based on the results for the year 2013.

European Tourism Portfolio Analysis

This report developed by the European Travel Commission

assesses the importance of different source markets for

European tourism destinations.

INTERVIEW

In the 21° century new innovative forms of tourism are raising,

moving away from the common sense of tourism which was

dominating until now. NECSTouR Permanent Secretariat

interviewed Mr. Maurizio Davolio, Representative of the

NECSTouR Associated Committee and President of EARTH,

AITR and Legacoop Turismo to have a deeper overview on

what Community-Based Tourism (CBT) implies: which are

the purposes, who are the stakeholders and how

sustainability is conceived. The main highlights of the

interview are transmitted hereby.

Community-Based Tourism is not limited to tourism

professionals, but involves the whole community where the

tourism activities take place: farmers, fishermen, cultural

associations, traders, artisans and even citizens.

It is organized by the local community, generally by active

citizens, often encouraged by international development

cooperation. It must be underpinned that the local

community decides the degree of depth of the relationship

with its guests: it can be tourism for the community, with the

community, in the community. The choice depends on the

decisions of the local population, which is sovereign in its

own territory. The main pillars of CBT should be:

- democratic participation of all concerned citizens;

- effort to distribute the tourism economic benefits to

all the participants as fair as possible;

- allocation of parts of the profits in projects of

collective interest;

- enhancement of local tangible and intangible

cultural;

- sustainability of tourism activities,

- involvement of the guests in the local social life,

- friendly relationships and mutual respect between

visitors and the local community.

The tourists who undertake this kind of journey wish to

experience an enriching travel and therefore, they look for

being involved with the local population activities: they

participate in the local day life, in the traditional activities

and bring back home a strong memory of their experience.

They are generally young people, mostly women, with

medium and high cultural profiles.

The CBT “philosophy” is expanding all over the world,

especially in Latin America (Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil and

Peru) and Africa (Senegal) where we can also find its

origins. Some regional/national governments have realized

the possibilities that CBT offers for the development of

inland areas, not just because the revalorization of the

territorial assets but also, and more important, because it

allow the local population to be involved in the different

levels of decision making process and to receive real benefits

from tourism.

Italy is also facing development problems in the inland areas

which are characterized by phenomena of heavy emigration

and aging of the population. That is why Legacoop,

Confcooperative and AITR are engaged in spreading

Community-Based Tourism which gives the chance to

tourists to appreciate history, art, traditions, typical products,

local cuisine, and handicrafts of destinations off the beaten

path. Their goal is disseminating initiatives, good practices

and creating and encouraging a network of training activities,

promotion and marketing.