TO CARE MED
Transferring Tourism Carrying Capacity Tool TO CARE about Sustainability of MED ecotourism
strategies, plans, products and services
TO CARE MED aims to foster sustainability in ecotourism by addressing the risk of over- tourism and promoting environmentally healthier and economically viable tourism models.
Aim
The overall objective is to transfer and uptake the tool to partners’ destinations. Expected changes include:
Improved Tourism Management: Implementing the TCCL tool helps manage tourist flows, ensuring that tourism activities do not exceed environmental, social, and economic limits.
Enhanced Policy Making: The tool aids policymakers in creating strategies and plans that balance tourism development with preserving natural and cultural heritage.
Sustainable Ecotourism Development: The project promotes a model that integrates the protection, restoration, and valorisation of natural and cultural assets, leading to more sustainable tourism.
Expected results
Optimised TCCL Tool: Transferred to local and regional tourism authorities, policymakers, and stakeholders in MED destinations. The tool is customised to account for each destination’s unique ecosystem, integrating regional insights and stakeholder feedback to improve sustainable tourism management.
Joint Ecotourism Strategy: Co-defined by tourism stakeholders, tourists, environmental organisations, tourism businesses, and local communities. This strategy aligns tourism products and services with carrying capacity limits to ensure sustainable development of ecotourism, protection of heritage, and environmental preservation.
Cascade Training Model: From transnational training of trainers to local learning and clustering of knowledge. The process addresses trainers, sustainable tourism professionals, environmental experts, destination managers, territorial planners, tourism businesses, and operators. Training programs provide the skills and resources needed to develop sustainable ecotourism practices in destinations that align with the tourism subsystem, with the assessed TCCL.
Lead partner
CA’ FOSCARI UNIVERSITY OF VENICE, Italy
Partners
City of Pula (Croatia)
Union of Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities (Bulgaria)
KEAN Kyttaro Enallaktikon Anazitiseon Neon (Greece)
Community Educational Research Centre (Slovenia)
Murcia Municipality (Spain)
Union of Municipalities “Tifernum” (Italy)
Funded: INTERREG Euro-MED / Programme priority Greener MED/ Project
Mission: Enhancing sustainable tourism
Duration: 27 months (25 April 2025 – 25 July 2027)
Budget: 1.499.596,80 EUR (Interreg/ERDF contribution: 1.199.677,44 EUR)
TOCAREMED WEBSITE