touring nature. touring nature: an ambitious project for sustainable tourism promoting regional...

Touring Nature

Touring Nature: an ambitious project for sustainable tourism

Promoting regional identity through sustainable tourism

Two main concerns:

Environmental protection

Involvement of regional authorities and stakeholders and interregional cooperation

A bottom-up strategy is the best way to involve regional stakeholders.

Touring Nature is an opportunity for the regions to pull their efforts together and set up pan-European Routes to rural eco-tourism.

Creating Routes of rural areas throughout Europe.

www.touringnature.com=a bridge from local professionals to the public

Reveal ill-known destinations of excellence

Village+ Sustainable Development European Label

Compulsory to become a territory member of the Routes

Awarded by the AER, monitored in the long-run and re-assessed every 3 years

Commits local professionals to sustainable development actions

A clear reference and guarantee that can be used by local professionals.

Connecting rural territories with the European tourists


Definition of a "territory”:

Group of villages with a common objective: developing in a sustainable way and

enhancing local resources.

1st labelled territory: Regional Development Council of Lake Tisza in Hungary (4

Counties-73 villages- 149 local professionals committed in the Village+ labelling

process).


The labelling process, a reliable guarantee for European visitors

An integrated project for sustainable tourism

Key criteria to gain the Label : 100 professionals sign a commitment to act daily in an environmentally-friendly way in their activity : waste management, conserving drinking water, reducing energy consumption, using ecological cleaning products and renewable energy…

“Local Professional” = accommodation, catering, local craftsmen, tourist information offices, museum, producers, associations, tourist guides, shops, sports rental…

What does the label reward?

The involvement of the community to:

- contribute to the collective project of developing sustainable tourism

- implement guidelines for improvement.

>> The labelling process, a reliable guarantee for European visitors

A supportive institutional recognition

AER

OECD

UNESCO

UNEP

Before the label awarding

Pluris Consultants work together with the territory to determine the guidelines for improvement.

3 steps:

•Examining the application of the territory.

•Carrying out an assessment auditing

•Providing the territory with an assessment report.

Improvement guidelines commit both the territory and the professionals to implementation


A rigorous methodology

The labelling process does not end with the label awarding!

Quality monitoring process + compulsory re-assessment every 3 year.

1st year: Assessment of the degree of participation of local professionals

2nd year: Assessment of the visitors' perception

3rd year: Assessment of commitment to sustainable development actions:

- Initiatives of the territory authorities,- Professionals' personal initiatives.


After the awarding of the label

Quality label renewal at the end of the 3rd year

-Auditing actions in line with improvement guidelines :What actions were carried out ?What are the outcomes?

What is important is the efficiency of the actions and not the amount of investments.

-New improvement guidelines for the next 3 years


Become a member of a pan-European Route to rural ecotourism

Using the quality label Village+ within the territory : Road signs , Tourist signs, Tourist brochures…

Enhancing the tourism assets of the territory in the web portal www.touringnature.com

Benefit from press coverage, web presence and promotion to main European clubs of targeted visitors

A personalized Diploma for each professional

Possibility to design online "customized trips" by the potential visitors

Personalised login for each territory to update the web portal according to the ongoing offer

A strong communication strategy

More information ?

Please contact:

Manon MIDY

[email protected]

APPENDIXES

This professional agrees to feature the following consumer notice on the documents presenting his products and services: “This professional commits to sustainable development actions: “Start a dialogue with visitors coming from other regions of Europe and make our nature and cultural riches and our traditional values known.

Share the passion for our professions and the uniqueness of our local products to promote our territory.

Create awareness in the visitors’ mind of the importance of respecting nature to preserve a quality environment for present and future generations.

Practice our profession while respecting our region's nature heritage by focusing on:

- waste management,- conserving drinking water,- reducing energy consumption,- using renewable energy,- using ecological cleaning products.

In a spirit of cooperation, take the visitors’ opinions into account.”

Back

Carrying out a sustainable development action

he choose freely

as regards water or energy savings, or waste management, or use of organic cleansing products or renewable energy

in the framework of his daily activity

and whose he is able to prove after 3 years at the moment of the renewal of the label

what are the outcomes : e.g. savings of electricity, heatiing, air-conditionner or water, image of its products…

For instance, a restaurant could choose to make efforts on waste management, a craftsman on water savings and an accommodation on renewable energy.

What is the involvement of a professional by signing the Village+ commitment ?

To grant professionals for their efforts which allow their territory to gain the Sustainable Development European Label Village+, they will be provided a personalized Diploma of commitment and will benefit from a space to promote their activity on the web portal of the Pan-European Routes. The local professionals have nothing to pay. It is the local authorities who takes in charge the cost. Back

Expected Quality

Perceived Quality

Wished Quality

Carried outQuality

Assessment Auditing for the Label

awarding

Selecting the improvement

guidelines

2

Renewal of the Label occurring every 3 years

3

4

Principle of the Village + quality process

Suggesting improvement

guidelines

CLIENTS’ SATISFACTION MONITORING

New improvement guidelines

Implementing the improvement

guidelines

1

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Setting the clients’ satisfaction at the centre of the Village + quality process

9. Evaluating the interest of the natural and cultural heritages, arts and crafts, and leisure activities for international visitors who are sensible to the preservation of environment

2. Each Expert Visitor fills a satisfaction grid of 100 criteria on the basis of his/her observations

6. Meeting the local professionals who are mentioned on the guides and signs

3. Collecting the tourist documents in various languages in the Tourist Information Centers

1. Four Expert Visitors discover the territory by acting as target visitors during 3 days

4. Using the road signs to find one’s way around

5. Using the tourist maps and signs of the places to visit

7. Appraising the involvement in welcoming and in preserving environment of the professionals in the ecotourism industry

8. General perception of the territory: roads, architecture, landscapes, viewpoints, cleanness, population encouraged to preserve environment

10. Proposing improvement guidelines to attract visitors at the international level in every season

Assessment

Auditing

Back

not

important

at all

not very

important

rather

important

very

important

absolutely

NO

rather

NO

rather

YES

absolutely

YES

1 a space dedicated to the discovery of the territory on the nearest rest area of the town ?

2 an Information Point dedicated to the territory in the tourist office of the town ?

3 the label of the territory on roadsigns at the entrance of the town ?

4 roadsigns indicating the territory from the town ?

5 the creation in town of a market with local products from the territory ?

6 public transports to go to the territory all year round ?

7 natural sites ?

8 cultural sites ?

9 spectacular points of view ?

10 rural heritage (farm, washing-place, fountain,kiln) ?

11 craftsmen and their products ?

12 information points ?

Your expectations Your perceptions

Does the access town succeed in promoting the territory thanks to:

Do roadsigns and markings encourage you, once on the spot, to come and discover:

PERCEPTION GRID OF THE ACCESS TOWN TO THE TERRITORY

PERCEPTION GRID OF THE TERRITORY

Usefulness of the grid in the quality process

EXPECTED QUALITY PERCEIVED QUALITY

Tourist Information Centers

Natural sites’ roadsigns

very

important

absolutely

NO

rather

NO

rather

YES

absolutely

YES





7

8

9

10

11

12


not

important

at all

not very

important

rather

important

very

important

absolutely

NO





7

8

9

10

11

12


Does the access town succeed in promoting the territory thanks to:

PERCEPTION GRID OF THE ACCESS TOWN TO THE TERRITORY

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