The session has provided the participants with the clues to tackle seasonal tourism and to obtain greater revenues with a high-quality offer. Last 23rd June, in the auditorium of the Chamber of Commerce of Málaga, the Andalusian Council of Chambers of Commerce organized, within the SHIFT project co-financed by ERDF, a workshop targeting tourism business sector. The workshop aimed to show tourism business possible ways to increase their revenues through the extension of the tourist season under an integrated quality management approach.
The renowned professor Domenec Biosca Vidal explained to more than fifty participants how to manage quality in destinations according to the new concept of tourism. This new approach has led to a change in the market, from a calmed and repetitive demand to a complex highly competitive, media-based and global offer market, where customers can choose and are more and more demanding.
The participants also had the chance to debate on issues such as the need to establish a different framework for integrated quality, with new rules, in order to lead the Mediterranean destinations to success in the tourism economy and to extend the tourist season. Political cooperation and private sector cooperation in initiatives such as the ones developed within the SHIFT project were also demanded in the forum.The workshop has been a initiative of the SHIFT project, whose common objective is to redistribute tourism pressure over an extended season and toward different market segments drawn from local cultural and natural diversity. At the same time, the idea is developing sustainable tourist sites and promoting a high quality, specialized tourist offer.
SHIFT (Sustainable Tourism in Fragile Territories) is a project part-financed by the European MED Programme which aims to foster sustainable development in the Mediterranean basin. It involves the participation of six European regions from four Mediterranean countries and has a budget of 1.3 million euro.
The leader of this initiative, the Naples Chamber of Commerce (Italy), is working together with the Prefecture of Dodecanese and East Macedonia and Thrace (Greece), the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Marseille Provence (France), the Chamber of Commerce of Valencia, the Business Confederation of the Province of Alicante, the Council of Chambers of Commerce of Andalucía and the Fundación Comunidad Valenciana – Región Europea (Spain).
For further information about the SHIFT project, please visit:
www.shiftmed.eu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiftmed