It gathered European stakeholders from the tourism sectors including academia, local and regional authorities, international institutions, NGOs among other. It was the opportunity to present the first findings and conclusions of the currently developed study and to check the outcomes with stakeholders. In particular, fruitful discussions among stakeholders aimed at understanding the common challenges faced by islands and remote or badly connected locations in their touristic development and the specific issue of connectivity. Another hot topic was diversification, innovation and the development of touristic niche markets at the level of tourist destinations.

The outcomes of the discussion and the view and experiences expressed will feed into the ongoing study on “specific challenges for a sustainable development of coastal and maritime tourism in order to ensure that stakeholders view is well represented.
 
Background

Coastal and maritime tourism represents one third of the Blue economy in terms of jobs and is thus a sector with special potential to foster a smart, sustainable and inclusive Europe. The EU Communication "A European Strategy for more Growth and Jobs in Coastal and Maritime Tourism" was launched in March 2014 and aims at developing a coherent political framework for boosting coastal and maritime tourism in Europe. In this framework, the Commission contracted a study on specific challenges for a sustainable development of coastal and maritime tourism dealing with connectivity and tourism diversification strategies.

See also

International Ocean Governance – public consultation