\ Innovazione \ Circular Economy for the Tourism sector: INCIRCLE project takes off

The principles of circular economy applicated to the tourism sector: this is the focus of INCIRCLE – “Support insular and low density areas in the transition towards a more circular tourism Economy”, a brand new Interreg MED project led by Area Science Park and recently launched.

13 partners from Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Albania met in Trieste in mid-January and immediately started working on the activities of the project, envisaged to provide MED decision makers with concrete tools and testing opportunities to:

• improve their capacity in terms of assessing and planning sustainability in territories where resources are already scarce;
• disclose new funding and concrete replication opportunities, establishing a critical mass for a MED sustainable and circular growth.

The project activities will analyse the relationship between the principles of the circular economy (in particular the theme of urban mobility, energy efficiency, water and waste management) and Mediterranean tourism policy, with particular attention to development, management and application of specific circular economy indicators capable of improving the management and planning models of the tourism sector in the project partner territories, and in the program area in general, with a focus on sustainability.

In pursuing its objectives, INCIRCLE builds on previously acquired knowledge and experience and ensures the availability, “circularity” and usability of this knowledge and a set of solutions collected and tested in the MED area through a dedicated online platform: exchange of knowledge, tools, methods and best practices will represent one of the main outputs of the project for the capitalization of existing knowledge in their own policies and actions with benchmarking tools.

A set of circular tourism indicators will be developed, to rank and benchmark tourism policies and practices, and an operational model for regional/national strategies to support sustainable tourism, which will be used as a basis for the transfer activities in the program area outside the partner network, which will culminate in 6 replication agreements.

5 demonstrators will be built in Palma de Mallorca (Mallorca Island, Spain), Himara (Albania), Gozo (Malta), Larnaka (Cyprus), Rethymno (Crete Island, Greece), which will implement already existing solutions for tourism sustainable based on circularity, replicating them in coastal and island MED territories.

INCIRCLE will last until June 2022.

The participation in INCIRCLE gives Area Science Park the opportunity to valorise its know-how in the circular economy applying it to the theme of sustainable tourism.