Thematic Areas

Promoting complementary and shared services among tourist destinations and products is not only an opportunity but has become a necessity in many tourist regions.

Historically, the approach to tourism development has been the model of a single destination, in which each country and/or destination competes for its market share, using various marketing and promotion strategies to attract visitors. This unilateral approach will tend to change radically in the future.

An increasing number of tourists are willing to live the maximum possible number of experiences during their holidays. Satisfying this demand requires, in the current information society, to establish multi-destination or multi-country strategies to offer a diversity of products and programs, thus helping to differentiate local products.

In this area is addressed the need to create favorable frameworks for the development of these initiatives in key areas such as:

• The role of tourism information portals in the promotion of integrated experiences that include multi-destination and shared offers.
• The development of thematic tourism routes through regional cooperation.
• The promotion and development of sustainable tourism networks.
• The creation of new multi-destination models in tourism promotion.
• The opportunities of the multi-destination strategy against seasonalization.
• The shared management of demand between destinations.
• Overcoming barriers to facilitate multi-country and multi-destination trips.
• The benefits and opportunities of joint marketing.

Many tourist destinations are located in cross-border areas that have shared landscape or customs for centuries and that have maintained commercial and human relations, despite existing administrative or political barriers. These spaces are usually crucibles of culture, history and landscape, where mixtures increase and enrich the diversity of expressions and experiences, beyond the differences.

In this context, the tourist barriers prevailing in many places imply a loss of opportunities. These areas open unsuspected possibilities of designing joint tourist products and cross-border itineraries that allow creating a more attractive vision of the border, which along with the attractiveness of crossing "to the other side", converts these cross-border tourist spaces into elements which can result in a potential development of a leading tourism activity.

 In this area, vital issues of common interest will be addressed, such as:

• Define the potentialities of tourism development in cross-border areas.
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of cross-border cooperation in the tourism field.
• The development of joint strategies for the promotion of tourism resources and products.
• The increase in the value of heritage, nature, and culture beyond borders.
• Experiences related to sustainable tourism products and services that convey the identity of cross-border places, and a diversity of expressions.
• The ability to share cross-border resources and common heritage.
• Transboundary Tourism, intercultural and coexistence spaces.

The promotion of tourist destinations without borders, in all its meanings, entails a high dose of innovation in the whole set of operations, from shared marketing, through the generation of multi-destination products, to the aspects derived from connectivity and sustainable mobility, essential in these strategies.

In this case, the key axis of innovation focuses on the need to share resources, attractions, and capabilities in order to compete better and provide new and creative sustainable tourism experiences.

 Innovation and intelligence address aspects such as:

• The ability to generate management models and multi-destination operation.
• The role of information technologies and the challenge of new forms of tourism business between associated destinations.
• The creation of sustainable tourism products without borders through innovation.
• The sustainable and efficient resolution of the new challenges that arise in terms of connectivity, transport and sustainable mobility.
• The way to share information systems.

Sustainable tourism represents a unique opportunity to contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but in the case of tourism without borders, in its different modalities, the commitment to sustainability in its conception and development presents new and important challenges. Several lines have special relevance in the application of the SDGs to tourism in cities:

• The empowerment of citizens and tourists in the new information and relations model.
• The creation of stable links and channels with the local economy, the supply of services and other economic and productive activities in the associated destinations.
• The ability to generate responsible attitudes with climate, including more sustainable transport
• Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns throughout the value chain of tourism activity in associated destinations.
• The promotion of the efficient use of resources that results in better economic, social and environmental results.
• The reduction of imbalances between the associated destinations.
• The opportunity to create networks of sustainable and associated tourism destinations, committed to the SDGs.

As for the last few years UE has been funding several projects related to sustainable tourism, it's important to understand how sustainable tourism can be profitable and how can sustainable tourism enterprises and destinations be financed. Funding has changed in recent years and probably there are more changes envisaged in the near future, mainly supporting sustainable and innovative strategies and actions:

• Are funding instruments and systems adapted to finance the improvements of the sustainable capabilities of tourism without borders and cross-border tourism
• Which should be the keys to fund promotion of cross-border tourism?
• Know the different direct and indirect financial instruments of the European Union