The Stakeholders Workshop “Institutional Governance Context” organised by the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro in the framework of the NEST project, was held on December 7th, 2020, from 09.00 – 12.00h.
By stimulating the exchange of relevant information about different national policies and strategies which provide framework for tourism development in the country, the webinar aimed at getting insight into the current activities and plans for sustainable and smart tourism development as well as into ongoing provision of support for the sector. The webinar saw the participation of national institutions in charge tourism development in Montenegro. Local actors were also involved, to ensure that ongoing activities reach local actors, who directly communicate and collaborate with tourism SMETs and businesses and thus can play a significant role to the innovation process.
In addition, participants were informed about the NEST project and the forthcoming activities that are meant to contribute to strengthening smart and sustainable tourism initiatives in Montenegro and in its cross-border counterparts, Albania and Italy, as well.
The main conclusions of the webinar suggest that the road to developing a smart and sustainable tourism sector and strategy in Montenegro entail:
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further development and diversification of tourism products based on the synchronisation of national policies and plans with all-inclusive stakeholder engagement and coordination of actions;
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that the future Country’s tourism destination development and management strategy be based on services and products that focus on healthy lifestyles and redirect to a personalised tourist offer and products;
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to focus the image of smart and sustainable destination on safety e.g. tourism business actors in Montenegro should obtain a Safe Travels mark, which will boost their competitiveness;
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to focus on sustainability: nature & tourism provide creative insights, which can reflect the safety, natural/cultural capital and openness of Montenegro as a tourist destination, through SMARTness concept.
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strong supporting measures to tourism actors that can stimulate the overall development of national and local economies by preserving Montenegro’s businesses and retain local jobs and protecting economic and social growth of communities.
With this activity, the Ministry of Economy set the main points for future collaboration with institutional stakeholders. The results of the event will be presented and discussed at the next sensitization online workshop “From Policy to Practice”, which will involve tourism SMETs and businesses and which will take place on 18th December 2020.
