The workshop “The Present and the Future of Sustainable and Responsible Tourism” 24-25 April 2017, Zagreb, was organised by the Croatian Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy under the framework of the 2017  IYSTD.

The opening session gathered messages from the UNWTO, UNEP, EC DG Grow, Croatia Ministry of Tourism and the Institute for Tourism of Zagreb.

Promoting sustainability in tourism policies, Technology and innovation, low carbon, resource efficiency and waste management, Development of sustainable tourism initiatives and Sustainable finance and investment in tourism where the main topics addressed by the panels.

The session ended with a discussion on: how and why does it pay to be sustained.

NECSTouR Permanent Secretariat moderated the session on Sustainable Finance and Investment in Tourism gathering speakers from European Bank for Research and Development, European Investment Bank, European Commission DG Region and Ethical Development Bank.

Sustainable Financing and Investing in Tourism can have different approaches: term of the financement: what after the loan/grant? The direct and indirect beneficiaries and the spillover effects, the areas of financement as well as the impact and monitoring of the financed initiatives.

The workshop was an awareness raising and experience sharing initiative of the Portfolio of the 10YFP Sustainable Tourism Programme as well as of the EU Macroregional Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR)

 “Sustainable tourism initiatives must fundamentally be: 1) Well Managed, by creating trust through evidence and being purpose driven, and 2) Ensure Scalability through the interconnecteveness of actors and endorsement of communication actions” Mr. Dirk Gleasser, UNWTO