Project activities



Within the ToLearn project tourism experts from well-known research institutions in Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Germany work closely with experienced tourism managers, entrepreneurs and stakeholders in all coastal regions of the North Sea. But in particular, selected pilot regions, where promising initiatives have already been launched to improve tourism sustainability, play an important role in the learning process.
The selected pilot regions around the North Sea are: 

  • Region Uthlande (North Frisian Islands) in Germany
  • Dutch Wadden Sea Islands in the Netherlands
  • City of Ghent and sub-coastal zone of Belgium
  • Danish Wadden Sea coast and Islands
  • Rogaland County in Southern Norway

Challenge Profiles

Challenge Profiles are surveys of all NSR coastal areas in order to determine more exactly which regions have to deal with which specific challenges in developing their tourism sector in a sustainable fashion. They include national and regional profiles for tourism trends and development challenges in sustainable coastal tourism.
These Challenge Profiles will serve as the basis for matching those regions around the North Sea that face comparable development challenges in their tourism sector.
The Challenge Profiles provide the basis for the Sustainability and Innovation Check of the pilot regions

 

 

Pilot Regions Sustainability & Innovation Check

In each Pilot Region a “sustainability and innovation check” will be conducted comprising the following questions:
— Which strategies aimed at coping with challenges in tourism implemented in the past years could be considered innovative and may serve as „best practice examples“ to other regions?
— How important are regional communication structures, networks, learning processes and key actors/ key institutions for the development of the region’s tourism sector?
— Which communication structures and learning processes formed the basis for the region’s success?
— What are the main barriers to implementing innovative strategies and which steps have been taken to overcome such barriers?
— In which ways do (tourism) policies at different government levels affect tourism development in the region?