Emblematic Mediterranean Mountains as Coastal destinations of excellence

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What do Olympus, Etna and Canigó have in common? They are all coastal Mediterranean mountains, emblematic for their history, landscape and identity. Today, 9 coastal mountains have joined the network of Emblematic Mediterranean Mountains: Canigò and Sainte Victoire (France), Etna and Gran Sasso (Italy), Olympus and Ida (Greece), Pedra Forca and Serra de Tramuntana (Spain) and Cikà (Albania). The objective of the EMbleMatiC project is to create and test a new and radically different tourism offer based on the features of these mountains and to create an alternative to the traditional holiday on the beach. This project goes even further. It is not concerned with creating a generic tourism product, but rather with piloting a new way of conceiving tourism: one which combines the development and protection of natural environments, by applying a more sustainable and responsible management of tourism flows and a greater involvement of inhabitants and local actors. This project will contribute to re-balance tourist flows between the sea and the mountain, to extend the seasonality and to improve economic returns for the territories. Several experiments will lead the territories toward the definition of an umbrella brand based on a sustainable and responsible tourism approach. Should the evaluation prove positive, more than fifteen other mountains from the Med basin could join the network together with their local authorities in order to evolve their tourism policies.

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