DUBROVNIK AND THE LIKA DESTINATION CLUSTER AS EXAMPLES OF GOOD TOURIST PRACTICE

The European Travel Commission (ETC) has announced a new one Handbook on Promoting Sustainable Tourism Practices. It is a guide that explains how national and local tourism organizations can encourage tourism stakeholders at every level to incorporate sustainable tourism practices into their day-to-day operations.

Emphasis is placed on adopting practices that reduce the negative impact of a coronavirus pandemic on tourism and travel. The handbook thus contains studies and cases of entities and destinations from around the world, which have already successfully created economically, socially and environmentally sustainable tourism practices.

The COVID-19 pandemic has confronted world tourism with an unprecedented crisis. Global tourism in 2020 achieved a huge decline compared to 2019, and the exchange of information and knowledge among destinations became important for mitigating the social and economic effects of the pandemic. Consequently, it has become extremely important to build the tourism sector of the future that will be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable in the long run by applying more sustainable and robust models.

Twenty case studies included in the handbook highlight the ways in which European and other world destinations incorporate sustainable approaches into their travel and tourism sector, along with key conclusions for national tourism and destination management organizations.

Two case studies from Croatia

In the 134-page manual he also found his place City of Dubrovnik, which over the past four years, together with the International Cruise Industry Association (CLIA) and the Global Council for Sustainable Tourism (GSTC), has worked to develop a sustainable and collaborative approach to visitor management challenges.

There it is Cluster Lika Destination who, among other things, worked on the quality system of local and traditional food, beverage and souvenir products under the common name Lika Qualitiy. Thanks to this, the Lika brand is well known nationally, and 57 manufacturers are currently included in the system.

Application of the principles in practice

European national and local tourism organizations have an important role to play in bringing together stakeholders to develop a common vision for the implementation of sustainable tourism. This vision encourages them to work with commercial and academic partners, as well as public sector and industry associations, to gain valuable insights and identify ways to help European visitors make more environmental and community decisions before and during travel.

The handbook also recognizes that travel and tourism organizations, especially SMEs wishing to take action, often find it difficult to manage a complex set of schemes, monitoring systems, funding mechanisms, campaigns and even equipment that exist in the “space” of sustainability. Examples of responsible practices, along with a series of practical recommendations, are presented in the handbook, which is now available for free download from the ETC website.

COVID-19 makes us think differently

The pandemic has served as a catalyst for major changes with a significant number of supply and demand trends showing that sustainability is a major driver of passenger decisions and a key point of competitiveness among European tourism companies. As it turned out, the pandemic forced the tourism sector to try to capitalize on these trends and incorporate sustainable principles into destinations of all sizes.

You can download the manual at the following links.

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