NECSTouR Project Officer, Mrs. Marta Domper, presented the NECSTouR experience on data measurement to better manage destinations at the International Conference "Measuring Sustainability in Tourism – Opportunities and Limitations".

The two initiatives presented are implemented in the framework of the NECSTouR Working Group on Indicators:

• The “Digitalisation and Safety for Tourism” initiative is part of the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3P) of the European Commission under the Industrial Modernisation thematic platform and is supporterd by NECSTouR.
   
• The Open Platform developed by Andalucia Region in the framework of the MITOMED+ Project is a knowledge support tool towards a sustainable and responsible coastal and maritime tourism in the MED Area.

Access to data. As Mrs Domper highlighted in her presentation, access to data is one the strategic thematic areas of the "Digitalisation and Safety for Tourism" initiative. A “Tourism of Tomorrow lab” will be developed by the Region of Andalusia - who is leading this initiative - to develop a tool for policy making, focused on Big Data, the social dimension and the online platforms.

Indicators on Coastal destinations. Through the use of a common set of indicators and an open online platform, the MITOMED+ Project is enabling Coastal and Maritime destinations to benchmark among themselves and to enhance sustainable development policies for a more efficient valorisation of their natural resources and cultural heritage. NECSTouR is also beneficiary of this project and leads the capitalization activities.

The conference has been organised on the 2-3 April in Berlin by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the German Environment Agency. It was part of a current research project "Further development of sustainable tourism“, which deals in particular with the measurement of the sustainability of German tourism.
It is recognized as a pilot study of the UN World Tourism Organization within the global initiative "Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST)".