Digital transformation played the role of a catalyst for the growth and development of tourism before the advent of the Covid 19 pandemic. The advent of the pandemic has further accelerated the digital transformation with the massive affirmation of contactless digital applications proposed to travelers before and during the journey and the stay in accommodation and destination, as a contrast to the health rules of physical distancing, while the difficulties in travel have brought out new trends, such as Staycation (holidays in the surroundings), Bleisure travelers (Smart Working during the holiday), Endless tourism, Improved decision making for tourist destinations, which have stimulated and affirmed the development and promotion of related new offers and services.

Such acceleration of Digital Transformation during the pandemic can act as a springboard for tourism recovery and its overall sustainability reinforce. To this end, the project will network the quadruple helix EuroMed transnational tourism community into a  EURO-Med Tourism Innovation Platform (ETIP) with active involvement throughout the project and beyond.

ETIP will provide a platform for the modeling of a Mediterranean Smart Tourism to promote sustainable tourism as "tourism that takes full account of its future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities." (UNWTO) ETIP will be equipped with a Destination Management Support System (DMSS) capable of:

• supporting regional / national decision-makers with analyzes in support of the policies being implemented, evaluating their economic, social and environmental impacts on the overall sustainability of tourism by providing a framework (feedback) on what is happening in the area;
• assisting organizations and businesses of tourist destinations at an operational level in monitoring the progress of the visitors flows, improving the related decision-making process on commercial strategies, service quality policies and marketing actions.

The total value of the LIBECCIO project is EUR 2,993,000, of which the Interreg Euro-MED program co-finances EUR 2,394,400. The amount of the project partner RRA Green Karst is EUR 203,400, of which the Interreg funds are EUR 162,720.

More about Interreg Euro-MED - LIBECCIO