The Blue Tourism Initiative held its annual Steering Committee (SC) meeting on 13–14 January 2026, bringing together project partners, regional organisations, donors, and experts to review progress and steer the Initiative’s final phase.

The aim of this last SC meeting was:

• Assess the progress made during the third and mid-fourth years of the project, reviewing achievements, milestones reached, and challenges encountered, as outlined in the annual report.
• Reflect on achievements made during the Third UN Ocean Conference in Nice, including the launch of the Ocean Tourism Pact at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in June 2025.
• Explore strategies to enhance stakeholder engagement, foster collaboration among partners and external stakeholders, and promote synergies with other projects and initiatives, including the Mediterranean Blue Tourism Flagship Initiative and the Blue Tourism Innovation Cluster in the Western Indian Ocean.
• Discuss the activity plan for the rest of the project, with a focus on capitalisation of project achievements and the project’s long-term impact and sustainability.

Progress across pilot sites

Mediterranean: Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon 
Pilot activities in the Mediterranean have focused on strengthening governance frameworks, improving coordination between tourism and environmental authorities, and supporting local actors in adopting more sustainable tourism practices. Progress was reported on integrating sustainability principles into destination planning, enhancing stakeholder dialogue, and testing tools to better manage tourism pressures in sensitive coastal and marine areas. These experiences are now feeding into the newly approved Mediterranean Blue Tourism Flagship Initiative, creating opportunities for replication and scaling at regional level.

Western Indian Ocean: Kenya, Madagascar, Comoros
In the Western Indian Ocean, pilots have advanced community-centred and innovation-driven approaches to blue tourism. Activities have supported local tourism stakeholder forum, strengthened skills and capacities, and promoted better governance of coastal and island tourism. Also, the eco-labelling certification was developed on the island of St. Marie in Madagascar.
These progresses feed the implementation activities of the Blue Tourism Innovation Cluster, within the framework of Our Blue Future (GIZ). 

Caribbean: Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia
Caribbean pilot sites have focused on embedding sustainable blue tourism principles into MSMEs through a Cluster approach, while strengthening links to biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation strategies. Using a micro-grants approach, particular attention was given to skills development, improving marketing solutions for tourism SMEs, and other initiatives. 

Looking ahead

As the Initiative enters its final months, partners agreed to prioritise capitalisation and knowledge-sharing, ensuring that lessons from pilot sites translate into practical guidance, policy uptake, and long-term impact. By connecting local action with regional cooperation and global policy processes, the Blue Tourism Initiative continues to position tourism as a lever for ecosystem stewardship, social inclusion, and sustainable blue economy transitions in coastal and island destinations.