Our partner in the INTERREG MED Sustainable Tourism project and centre of expertise for development and environment for countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Plan Bleu, has contributed to the 40 Expert Perspectives on the future of coastal and marine tourism that gather and showcase a wide range of perspectives on the future of coastal and marine tourism based on emerging themes and issues selected by the 16 members of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. This was an opportunity to highlight the work done by the Community and to showcase two concrete examples (INCIRCLE and HERIT-DATA).

These perspectives accompany the report on “Opportunities for Transforming Coastal and Marine Tourism: Towards Sustainability, Regeneration and Resilience” that was commissioned by the Ocean Panel and which focuses primarily on the economics of coastal and marine tourism and identifies a set of opportunities for action to help drive systemic change and to accelerate action on securing the long term sustainability and viability and this vital sector.

Both documents were published on Wednesday 29 June as part of the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal during the Launch of the Sustainable coastal and marine tourism knowledge platform and the Official UNOC Side Event: Building Sustainable and Resilience Ocean Tourism Economies and Coastal Cities on July 1.