The Catalan Tourist Board (CTB) participated as a partner in the European capitalization project RESTART MED!, initiated in September 2021 and concluded in September 2023. Besides CTB, the project involved five other partners:
In Catalonia, RESTART MED! also had the involvement of Barcelona Provincial Council and the participation of the Association of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME).
The project had a total budget of 1.11 million euros and concluded in October 2023. It was 90% co-financed through the ENI CBC Med 2014-2020 Cross-Border Cooperation Programme in the Mediterranean Basin. This programme is part of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI), aimed at promoting cross-border cooperation (CBC) among countries on both shores of the Mediterranean (MED) with the main objective of creating an area of peace, stability, prosperity, and good neighbourliness.
RESTART MED! created a Mediterranean network for sustainable tourism, incorporating sustainable tourism resources and best practices in the Mediterranean: http://medsustainabletourism.net/. The video explains the challenges of tourism in the Mediterranean and the solutions provided by the project.
In Catalonia, during 2022, six training sessions on tourism and sustainability were held as part of #formacióturismecat with a total of 104 participants from the public and private sectors, and civil society. The sessions focused on providing theory and practical tools for the creation and promotion of sustainable tourism products. The sessions for the creation and promotion of sustainable tourism were aimed at the private sector, which could later apply for grants for the promotion of sustainable tourism products.
Continuing on a broader scale, the project established a community of 148 individuals interested in tourism and sustainability and conducted two Sustainable Tourism conferences in the Mediterranean: one in Tunisia and another in Jordan where 3 out of 5 subsidized Catalan companies could present their sustainable tourism initiatives.
The CTB, in collaboration with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, monitored the implementation of five subsidized sustainable tourism initiatives. This financial support aimed to promote aspects of environmental, socio-cultural, and/or socio-economic sustainability. Each selected initiative had to emphasize at least two of these three aspects to be eligible for a grant. The proposals implemented were:
For the public sector, the project tested the Guidelines Policy Analysis. The guide includes a checklist available to individuals responsible for creating and implementing tourism policies in Catalonia.
During 2023, sessions were held with county councils of L’Alt Empordà, L’Alt Penedès, L’Anoia, El Baix Ebre, La Ribera d’Ebre, El Berguedà, and Les Garrigues, where the checklist was used as a starting point to analyse policies at the county level. Check the results here (catalan).
Finally, the project conducted four in-person workshops and one online with civil society, academic sector, public sector and private sector representatives in Reus, Igualada, La Seu d’Urgell, Girona and Barcelona, focusing on three areas: (1) exploring how to ensure that public sector initiatives promote initiatives that do not go against the interests of resident populations; (2) understanding the real and authentic visions and perspectives of the communities that make up Catalonia to incorporate them into destination marketing; and (3) examining and identifying social needs in communities and destinations to design tourism products and services that respond to these needs. These sessions were in line with action 8 of the Catalan Tourist Board’s sustainability plan (only available in Catalan).
