Tourism Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region Iceland Norway Finnland Russian Federation Sweden Estonia Latvia Denmark Lithuania Belarus Germany Poland Betina Meliss University of Greifswald Institute of Geography
Overview EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region Priority Area Tourism Council of the Baltic Sea States, Expert Group on Sustainable Development Baltic 21 Project AGORA 2.0 - Heritage Tourism for increased Baltic Sea Region Identity Recommendations for maritime and coastal tourism
EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region Priority Area Tourism Priority Area Coordination State Chancellery of the Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Flagship projects 12.7 Attract tourists to rural areas especially the coastal ones 12.8 Facilitate environmentally sustainable cruise vessels in the Baltic Sea 12.9 Promote the cultural and natural heritage 12.10 Develop strategies for sustainable tourism Cooperative action - Network and cluster stakeholders of the tourism industry and tourism education bodies" Baltic Sea Tourism Forum 2008 Warnemuende, DE 2009 Vilnius, LT 2010 Kaliningrad, RU 2011 Sopot, PL 2012 Rostock, DE 2013 - Denmark (autumn)
Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) Baltic 21 CBSS: political forum for regional inter-governmental cooperation Members: 11 states of the Baltic Sea Region (incl. Iceland and Norway) + European Commission Baltic 21: working unit of the CBSS Secretariat regional expression of the global Agenda 21 (UN Earth Summit 1992 in Rio de Janeiro) multi-stakeholder platform of around 200 partners within the Baltic Sea Region facilitating the Baltic 21 work in projects and policy development
CBSS Expert Group on Sustainable Development - Baltic 21 Key strategic areas of cooperation Climate Change Sustainable Urban and Rural Development Sustainable Consumption and Production Innovation and Education for Sustainable Development Develop strategies for sustainable tourism Innovative approaches to use natural and cultural heritage and landscapes, preserve them and use them for tourism in a sustainable way Lead: Baltic 21 Tourism Sector network Open Days 2012 - Betina Meliss, Greifswald University, Germany, meliss@uni-greifswald.de
Project AGORA 2.0 Heritage Tourism for Increased Baltic Sea Region Identity Objectives - promote the rich natural and cultural heritage - make the Baltic Sea Region more visible - efforts for a common identity - develop transnational tourism products Outputs - BASTIS Baltic Sea Heritage Tourism Information Service (market data for SMEs) - The Six Baltic Sea Wonders (online contest, awarding: 8.11.2012) - What do we have in common in the whole Baltic Sea Region? - Transnational heritage tourism products (castles, brick gothic, forests, sand dunes, stones)
BASTIS Baltic Sea Heritage Tourism Information Service One-stop-shop for tourism market information in the Baltic Sea Region, free of charge and easy to access especially for SME Including tourism statistics, market research results, analyses and information on all Baltic Sea destinations, on source markets for the Baltic Sea Region The Heritage tourist on heritage tourists on heritage sites. www.bastis-tourism.info
Good practice: BSR Stakeholders gave input to the next programme period Workshop in Riga, Latvia, 06 Sep 2012 Conclusions: Regional Cooperation Programmes are needed for tourism development!! Economic development by valorisation of tourism potentials in coastal and rural areas Strengthen competitiveness and a common identity for joint marketing Sustainable use of natural and cultural heritage Involvement of the tourism business sector, esp. SMEs Balanced territorial cooperation, esp. in rural areas
Strategies for maritime and coastal tourism Recommendations Accept sustainability as a basic principle for all kinds of tourism! Strengthen specific regional maritime potentials by cooperation with relevant sectors / stakeholders! Save and promote maritime heritage and traditional maritime trade! Exploit further potentials: small and medium sized coastal towns for cruise shipping! Include maritime and coastal tourism in related actions and programmes => making it eligible for funding!
Thank you for your attention! Contact Betina Meliss University of Greifswald, Institute of Geography Makarenkostrasse 22 17487 Greifswald GERMANY Phone: +49 3834 864541 meliss@uni-greifswald.de www.wisogeo.de www.agora2-tourism.net www.bastis-tourism.info www.6-bsr-wonders.net www.bsr-identity.net