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Blue Tourism Intitiative at the "Paths That Last – Advancing Sustainable Tourism in the Mediterranean"
June 925h 2025 | Split, Croatia
The city of Split, Croatia, hosted the landmark event “Paths That Last – Collaborating for a Sustainable Tourism in the Mediterranean” on 25–26 June 2025. Held under the Mediterranean Multi-Programme Mechanism (MMM), the event brought together policy leaders, project implementers, tourism boards, and representatives from eight Interreg programmes, as well as their national counterparts.
The two-day gathering aimed to foster a shared vision for sustainable, inclusive, and resilient tourism across the Mediterranean. It showcased how cross-border cooperation, strategic governance, and local innovation can come together to build long-term solutions in one of the world’s most visited yet vulnerable tourism regions. Each programme contributed unique insights and policy innovations, united by the common goal of developing tourism models that are environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and economically viable.
Representatives of the Blue Tourism Initiative (BTI) were invited to join the discussion and present key insights from their projects, including progress in leading the Flagship Initiative for Sustainable Blue Tourism in the Mediterranean, embedded within the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) framework.
Blue Tourism Initiative presentation
Our project officer, Giulia Balestracci, presented the components of the Blue Tourism Initiative, outlining its applied methodology across the three targeted regions, with a special focus on the Mediterranean. The efforts undertaken in the involved Mediterranean countries — thanks to the work of the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med), IDDRI, and Eco-union — were particularly highlighted.
Giulia shared concrete examples from the pilot site in Al Hoceima National Park in northern Morocco. This site was selected to build upon IUCN-Med’s previous work under the Interreg DestiMED project, and it serves as a showcase for how the MEET Network standards have been applied to establish a year-round ecotourism model that supports conservation and local livelihoods.
She also provided insights into the implementation methodology at the grassroots level — including the identification of a national coordinator or local implementation unit, selection of actors based on the required skills, and establishment of local partnerships. This approach has been instrumental in engaging the private sector, supporting the creation of clusters of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and ensuring effective implementation of diverse local activities.
In coordination with Marina Markovic, who presented on behalf of the Barcelona Convention the key elements of the MSSD, Giulia elaborated on the collaborative efforts of IDDRI, Eco-union, IUCN-Med, and Plan Bleu to design a Mediterranean Flagship Initiative on Sustainable Tourism.
This Flagship Initiative, launched during COP23 in Portorož, Slovenia, aims to endorse and support field and policy activities in Mediterranean countries — both in the North and South — beyond the current timeframe and budget of the BTI. It seeks to address coastal tourism’s environmental challenges through knowledge-building and monitoring, field implementation via pilot projects, and regional cooperation via dialogues, workshops, and high-level events.
Our participation in the workshop
Day one of the event focused on strategic alignment, including five parallel workshops. Blue Tourism Initiative representatives contributed in the “Shared and Strategic Governance of the Tourism Offer”. These thematic discussions laid the groundwork for more focused exchanges on day two, which shifted from dialogue to action, as participants collaboratively explored practical solutions and tools to be scaled and replicated across Mediterranean territories.
A Launchpad for Long-Term Transformation
“Paths That Last” catalysed a new phase of Mediterranean cooperation in sustainable tourism. For the Blue Tourism Initiative, it was an invaluable opportunity to share our experience and align with other Interreg projects and stakeholders from across the region. The event reaffirmed the collective belief in the power of territorial cooperation and bottom-up innovation — and the urgent need for a shared Mediterranean tourism vision rooted in sustainability, equity, and long-term resilience.
