On 25-26 February 2020, the Umbrella project held its third cross border conference on Sustainable Tourism at the beautiful Hotel Saxkjøbing in Guldborgsund municipality, Denmark. More than 65 participants from Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, Sweden and Germany took part in the conference to discuss the latest trends of sustainable tourism in the Baltic Sea Region.
The conference offered an excellent overview of the objectives in the EU Baltic Sea Strategy – and how different regions and projects in the South Baltic Sea work within the frame of sustainable tourism.
We also had some fantastic workshops in the areas of;
1) Nature and Coastal Tourism,
2) Cultural heritage Tourism,
3) Food / Gastro Tourism,
and 4) Cycling Tourism, and we hope that these workshops have paved the ground for future projects and international cooperation.
A big thank you to the host of Guldborgsund Municipality for organising this event.
This month we’ve participated in 12h Baltic Sea Tourism Forum #BSTF in Brussels. One of the panels: Success stories of international tourism cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region was moderated by Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło, Head of the ERB International Secretariat.
13 November 2019 | Brussels/Belgium 12th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum SHARE | INSPIRE | CREATE
Baltic Sea Tourism Forum In 2008 the then Ministry for Economy, Employment and Tourism and the Tourist Board of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern initiated the first Baltic Sea Tourism Forum (Summit) which took place in Rostock / Germany. Core aims of this touristic rapprochement process were to develop forms of collaboration, which complement the countries’, and regions’ own tourism strategies in a meaningful way and give the Baltic Sea as a tourism destination a better place on the market.
Major aims are:
Support a sustainable and balanced development of tourism and voice the interest of the tourism economy in the Baltic Sea region.
Strengthen the sustainable and responsible cooperation of all Baltic Sea region countries and exploit the existing international development potentials more efficiently.
Provide and secure a permanent platform for information and know-how exchange with the Baltic Sea Tourism Forum at its core for continuous collaboration on the basis of a multilevel process.
Position the Baltic Sea as a coherent travel destination on the global tourism market and promote the area as an attractive, safe and natural destination for international travellers.
Since 2012, the annual forum is closely linked to the implementation process of Policy Area Tourism in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. It contributes strongly to the aims of the macro-regional strategy, the revised action plan and defined actions adopted by the European Commission in 2015. Objectives of the 12th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum For the first time in the history of the annual tourism conference, the venue is located outside the Baltic Sea region – and for a good reason. With the participation of the European Union, this year’s forum aims to bring together stakeholders from the Baltic Sea region with institutions and representatives in Brussels. In the context of international cooperation successful examples from the Baltic Sea Region will be presented, suggestions for strategic and innovative approaches will be given and insights with regard to the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 provided. Inspiring keynotes on sustainability and the future of tourism will complement the agenda.
Under the motto SHARE | INSPIRE | CREATE the forum underlines the reasons for cooperation beyond national borders in a macro-regional context.
SHARE achievements, as the first session of the day, concentrates on the potentials and challenges of cross-border work by focusing on the overarching macro-regional strategies as well as on examples of interregional project initiatives. The exchange on experiences and future needs aims at helping to clarify commonalities as well as emphasising the advantages of sustainable cooperation at macro-regional level.
A more detailed insight on innovative approaches will be given in the session INSPIRE partners. BSR tourism market data & trends and international product & service development can mean long-term benefits for the tourism sector in the BSR and should be considered as an imperative when positioning the tourism industry on international level.
In terms of the new multiannual financial framework of the EU for the period 2021-2027, the third session is dedicated to CREATE perspectives. The new EU funding period will not just affect international cooperation, as it influences the funds available in programmes such as Interreg, but will also define thematic priorities of EU policy. A comprehensive outlook will provide a better understanding of how conditions need to be adjusted for the future of BSR tourism cooperation.
Date and Venue Renaissance Brussels Hotel // Rue du Parnasse 19, 1050 Brussels, Belgium www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/brubr-renaissance-brussels-hotel Contact point of the BSTF Baltic Sea Tourism Center Johannes Volkmar // j.volkmar@auf-nach-mv.de // +49 381 40 30 663 Anne Vollerthum // a.vollerthum@auf-nach-mv.de // +49 381 40 30 653