NECSTouR Permanent Secretariat was invited by NECSTouR presidency the Catalonia Region  - leader of the MED PEARLS initiative to moderate a roundtable during their inaugural conference on “The Mediterranean As Innovative, Integral and Unique Destination for Slow Tourism” on the 19th of november in Barcelona.

The MED PEARLS goal is to internationally position the Mediterranean Region as a unique and integral destination to experience the Mediterranean lifestyle through Slow Tourism, inviting travellers to discover sustainably and responsibly new destinations while taking time to have direct contact with local communities. The project will address both local and international markets through a comprehensive commercialisation and marketing strategy.

NECSTouR was invited to “establish synergies with European initiatives” between different organizations leading projects related to sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean. The roundtable discussion was moderated by Sandra de Puig, NECSTouR Head of Policy and Knowledge. The speakers were strategic stakeholders relevant for the successful implementation of MED PEARLS.

• Josep Rodriguez from the Deputation of Barcelona, another NECSTouR member, leader of the newly awarded Interreg MED project on Sustainable Tourism Community.
• Claudia Guzzon, Project and Policy Officer at the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), recently engaged on cooperation with NECSTouR, earlier this year.
• Albert Rodríguez de Gea and Ester Toledo, representing two other ENI CBC MED projects on Sustainable Tourism : MEDUSA (for adventure tourism) and MEDGAIMS (on gamification), respectively.

Why do we seek for cooperation in order to develop sustainable tourism? The goal of the roundtable was to share experiences, recommendations and strategies from each project at a different phase of the project life cycle (conception, planning, implementation, capitalization) to inspire the MED PEARLS projects in the audience. Each of the organization brought knowledge following its field of expertise: governance, interregional/transitional cooperation, marketing/branding, new technologies…

NECSTouR was invited by the Catalonia Region, the lead partner of the project. The aim of this conference was to inaugurate the European project MED PEARLS “The Mediterranean As Innovative, Integral and Unique Destination for Slow Tourism”, co-funded by the European Commission through the European Territorial Cooperation programme (ENI CBC MED). Led by the Catalonia Region (helding the NECSTouR presidency), the project consortium is composed by 8 partners from 6 countries (Spain, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Italy and Palestine).