Sustainable Tourism, Culture and Biodiversity
On 19 May 2025, I contributed to the TOUR incoming mission “Sustainable Tourism, Culture & Biodiversity” in Kotor, Montenegro, through facilitation and the formulation of concluding messages.
The event brought together perspectives from Montenegro, Italy and Albania to explore how tourism can support biodiversity conservation, respect cultural heritage and generate benefits for local communities. The opening and morning sessions took place at Hotel Vardar in Kotor.
My role focused on supporting dialogue among participants and connecting the themes discussed throughout the day with practical considerations for the TOUR Action Plan.
Connecting conservation, heritage and tourism practice
The morning programme examined ecotourism and wildlife tourism as approaches to protecting natural habitats, alongside tourism’s contribution to cultural preservation.
Case studies from the three countries provided a basis for discussion, including examples related to Kotor’s heritage. A panel with tourism operators brought business experience into the exchange, addressing both opportunities and challenges in applying sustainable tourism models.
Through facilitation, I helped connect these perspectives and maintain a practical focus on how sustainability principles could inform tourism services and destination management.
Linking discussion with the TOUR Action Plan
The afternoon programme followed the Action Plan’s progression from identifying areas of intervention to developing pilot proposals, implementation and monitoring.
Topics included eco-certification, sustainable transport, waste management, community involvement and approaches to distributing tourism activity more widely across locations and seasons.
The discussions also considered the roles of public authorities and businesses, including partnerships, investment and policy incentives. These exchanges provided a framework for examining how proposed actions could be supported institutionally and financially.
Monitoring formed another part of the programme, with attention to environmental, economic and social impacts, reporting arrangements and ways to assess progress.
Bringing together conclusions and next steps
My contribution to the conclusions was to bring the discussion back to implementation: how ideas could be developed into feasible proposals, how responsibilities could be shared and how results could be evaluated.
The closing agenda also addressed continued cross-border cooperation, including a proposed Memorandum of Understanding among stakeholders and its intended signing at the final TOUR conference.
The mission provided an opportunity to connect conservation and heritage objectives with the decisions facing tourism operators and public institutions. My focus was on helping participants relate those objectives to practical actions and continued cooperation.
