NECSTouR is a network of European regions committed to the issue of sustainable tourism.
The network was born in November 2007 in Florence, during Euromeeting conference, when a group of 15 regions, flanked by many important international institutions and stakeholders, signed the Memorandum of Understanding "Towards a European Network for a Sustainable and Competitive Tourism - Policies and Instruments for the Consolidation of a European Strategy for a Network of Destinations of Excellence for a Sustainable and Competitive Tourism", thus deciding to commit themselves to the development of sustainable tourism and to the "endorsement of a medium-long term Agenda in which all stakeholders undertake the necessary steps to strengthen the contribution of sustainable practices to facilitate the competitiveness of Europe as the most attractive tourism destination", as per the European Commission's Communication of October 2007 entitled "Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism".
In the year 2008 NECSTOUR's founding members worked together in order to establish the networks' governance rules, objectives and strategy (click here to find more - si apre il documento strategy). Two events were organized in order to foster international debate on the issues of sustainable tourism and build the network's organization: the VII edition of Euromeeting (Riccione, 26th of November 2008) and the network's Conference (Marseille, 29 and 30 October 2008).
The regions of Tuscany, Catatonia and Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur have taken the initiative to create an open network of regions and of other related organisms which could provide valid support to the network.
Regions, international institutions and representatives from international networks and organisations involved in the social and economic debate on sustainable tourism, gathered in Florence in November 2007 at Euromeeting on sustainable tourism and in Marseille on the 29th and 30th of October 2008 agreed:
- to develop and strengthen a framework for the coordination of national and regional development and research programmes in the field of sustainable tourism;
- to share and promote various forms of coordination of project activities already underway at regional level which can be rendered more efficient by an exchangeof information and the implementation of joint activities;
- to operate in coherence with the two essential principles identified as pillars for the practice of sustainable tourism development: Reinforcing social dialogue at all levels and constant measurability of phenomena related to heterogeneous tourism activities.
And committed themselves to:
- the active promotion of suitable instruments to guarantee social dialogue and participative processes directly concerned with sustainable tourism development;
- to dedicating specific attention, according to relative levels of responsibility, to the following 10 priority themes to guarantee that policies and strategic objectives for sustainable tourism are both operative and applicable:
• Impact of transport
• Quality of life of residents and tourists
• Quality of work
• Widening the relations between demand/offer (geographical and seasonal
concentration of tourism)
• Active conservation of cultural heritage
• Active conservation of environmental heritage
• Active conservation of distinctive identities of destinations
• Reduction and optimisation of use of natural resources with particular
reference to water
• Reduction and optimisation of energy consumption
• Reduction of waste and better waste management
- to defining procedures and models for monitoring and measurement of phenomena related to the 10 priority themes;
- to guaranteeing a constant exchange of information and knowledge on development programmes and research;
- to defining common activities for sharing methods of communication and participation, indicators, operative measures and systems for revealing and correcting negative territorial characteristics and for constructing more positive ones;
- to implementing common, shared activities related to training at interregional level;
- to undertaking joint research activities on sustainable tourism through joint calls;
- to promoting productive collaboration and cooperation in research both at interregional and regional level and in terms of public-private partnerships;
- to jointly promoting ambitious, long term strategies in line with the European Union's policy for sustainable development which individual regions would find it hard to implement alone;
- to promoting support actions for developing areas with the aim of creating the conditions for sustainable tourism development.
More info? contact the secretariat at
necstour.paca@bruxeurope.be