NECSTouR

💪 Today, we had the pleasure of attending the European Travel Commission Destination Europe Summit 2025, where Commissioner for Transport & Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas delivered a keynote speech. Apostolos Tzitzikostas reaffirmed the European Commission’s commitment to a safe, sustainable, and digitalised tourism industry by recognizing it as a key driver of growth for European regions. He also highlighted the crucial role of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) and local authorities in achieving these objectives and announced the Commission's efforts to simplify EU funding programmes to provide better support for the sector.    🔝 At NECSTouR, we strongly welcome this vision, which aligns with our mission as a sustainable tourism network of European regions/DMOs. We stand ready to collaborate, share our expertise, and ensure that European regions remain at the heart of this strategy. 

👏 NECSTouR's Climate Task Force Chair and Toerisme Vlaanderen - VISITFLANDERS' Sustainability Manager, Marjan Nauwelaert, had the pleasure of speaking at the "Sustainable Development of Objects of the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine", a three-day workshop dedicated to advancing the sustainable development of national natural parks in the Carpathian region and beyond. 🔝 Organised by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine in partnership with the All-Ukrainian Public Organization "Living Planet", the event brought together experts committed to preservation and responsibly managing Ukraine’s natural heritage. 🌍 During her intervention, Marjan Nauwelaert shared insights into Toerisme Vlaanderen - VISITFLANDERS' sustainability plan and ongoing efforts while also presenting #NECSTouRClimateActionPlan and the role of the Climate Hub and Task Force. She emphasised the valuable resources available to NECSTouR members, from the Members' Platform to expert-led webinars, reinforcing the crucial role networks such as ours have in driving meaningful climate action in tourism. 🤝 A heartfelt thank you to the organisers for creating this space for dialogue and progress towards a more #sustainable future!

🎉 Today, we successfully hosted the first of three Online Training Sessions on the Blueprint for Tourism Climate Action Plans organised by #Community4Tourism, with over 150 participants joining us! Led by climate action expert Jeremy Smith, this session provided a deep dive into the foundational stages of #ClimateAction planning, covering:  ✅The evolution of destination climate action planning, leading to the creation of the #GlasgowDeclaration  ✅ Key #ClimateRisks facing destinations  ✅ Internal conditions needed for effective action  ✅ External factors that drive meaningful change 💻 Jeremy Smith also shared key resources and insights into the opportunities and challenges in advancing climate action within tourism. The materials and resources of this session will be shared with the participants and be available in our Members Platform. 🔜 Next up: "Selecting Objectives and Prioritising Actions" on 13 February. This session will focus on identifying suitable objectives for a Climate Action Plan and using the Prioritization Tool developed by The Travel Foundation to select specific actions. 👉 Register here: https://shorturl.at/sb176 💪 Thank you to everyone who joined today, we’re excited to continue this journey in the next sessions! Turisme Diputació de Barcelona University of Thessaly Adriatic Ionian Euroregion Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) UNIMED - Mediterranean Universities Union Plan Bleu University of Tirana Interreg Euro-MED Programme

💪 As FITUR draws to a close, we look back on two highly productive days in Madrid filled with meaningful connections and forward-thinking discussions.    🛣️ From January 22 to 23, NECSTouR’s Managing Director, John Fitzgibbon, and Strategy Director, Cristina Nuñezñez, actively engaged with our members in insightful bilateral and group meetings. These sessions focused on the current status of the network, the #NECSTouR2030Pathway, and the presentation of the NECSTouR 2025 Draft Work Programme, alongside exciting new opportunities on the horizon.    🔝 In parallel, on January 22, NECSTouR's Tourism of Tomorrow Lab hosted a hybrid meeting with its Premium members to introduce the ambitious #NECSTouRToTLab 2025 Work Programme to further establish its role as a hub for innovation in sustainable tourism.    🌐 Opportunities like these reaffirm the strength of our network and our shared commitment to advancing sustainable tourism. NECSTouR remains dedicated to fostering collaboration, innovation, and resilience across the sector as we shape the tourism of tomorrow together. 

🤝 Today, NECSTouR's Tourism of Tomorrow Lab Premium Members gathered in Madrid, coinciding with FITUR, to present and approve the #NECSTouRToTLab 2025 Work Programme.    🛣️ In 2025, the #NECSTouRToTLab team will work in alignment with the collaboratively developed #NECSTouR2030Pathway, which outlines our shared vision and objectives for sustainable tourism until 2030. One of the key goals is to empower NECSTouR members to systematically measure tourism’s impact—economic, environmental, and sociocultural—using a unified set of indicators for smarter decision-making.    This year’s work programme focuses on three transformative Integrated Projects:  ✅ Development of a platform to standardise sustainable indicators across European Regions  ✅ Integration of AI technology in the tourism sector  ✅ Development of an advanced training and capacity building Programme: ToT Lab Academy    💻 In addition, the #NECSTouRToTLab will continue to build the talent map, developed in 2024 with the help of the Premium Members, and host a series of webinars #ToTLab2ToTLab, continuing last year's monthly webinars in which Premium Members, such as Agència Catalana de Turisme / Catalan Tourist Board, Lapland University of Applied Sciences and Toerisme Vlaanderen - VISITFLANDERS disseminated their initiatives and projects, sharing experiences and best practices.    💪 The #NECSTouRToTLab will also be involved in the delivery of the D3HUB - EU Competence Centre to support data management in tourism destinations and DEPLOYTOUR-Deployment European Tourism Data Space projects, counting with the participation of the Premium and Freemium members, to further establish the hub as a recognised European institution in tourism-related data analysis.    🔝 With this ambitious work programme, the #NECSTouRToTLab reaffirms its commitment to delivering innovative, reliable, and impactful solutions that empower our members and advance sustainable tourism across Europe.

❓ How should the tourism sector act to reduce emissions and improve destinations' resilience towards climate change impacts? 👁️ Do not miss the 3 Online Training Sessions of the #SustainableTourism Mission to develop a plan for acting on #climate! 💻 Addressed to Tourism Authorities and DMOs, the online training sessions will be held online, led by The Travel Foundation expert Jeremy Smith, author of the Blueprint for Tourism Climate Action Plans. The training will focus on ✅ Enabling conditions and initial assessments for climate action planning | January 30th, 2025 ✅ Selecting objectives and prioritising actions | February 13th, 2025 ✅ Implementing and tracking progress | February 27th, 2025 👉 Register now to attend the full training activity: https://shorturl.at/sb176 Turisme Diputació de Barcelona University of Thessaly Adriatic Ionian Euroregion Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) UNIMED - Mediterranean Universities Union Plan Bleu University of Tirana Interreg Euro-MED Programme Sustainable Tourism

🎉 Today, we had the pleasure of welcoming several of our member regions' Brussels delegations to the NECSTouR headquarters. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the beginning of the year and further strengthen the connections that make our network so impactful. During this inspiring gathering, we:   ✅ Presented the #NECSTouR2030Pathway, sharing the common vision for the future of tourism.   ✅ Introduced a draft of our Work Programme for 2025, highlighting key initiatives, opportunities and member benefits.   ✅ Explored how our members can play an even more active role in enhancing NECSTouR's advocacy efforts and fostering greater collaboration.     💪 We are excited about what 2025 holds for NECSTouR and our members. Together, we will continue to work for a more sustainable and data-focused tourism industry. 

NECSTouR participated at the Centre-Val de Loire Region New Year's reception today at which President François Bonneau highlighted European collaboration as crucial for strengthening regional development. President Bonneau reaffirmed Centre Val de Loire's 25 Years since it was awarded #UNESCO World Heritage status & 20 years of Loire by bike with 900km of cycle routes offering tourists a sustainable holiday experience 😎 The event provided a forum for showcasing & facilitating a dialogue on #NewEuropeanBauhaus, innovation, digitisation & #sustainabletourism.

The wait is over! 🥳 We’re thrilled to announce the 40 selected DMOs for the D3HUB peer-learning programme. These destinations will collaborate over the next 12 months to find innovative, data-driven solutions for tourism challenges. Let’s congratulate these changemakers shaping the future of sustainable tourism! #competencecentre #datahubs #datasharing Dolores Ordoñez AnySolution Tayrne Alexandra Butler Olga Veiga Jose Luis Cordoba Daniel Iglesias Gonsálvez Vesna Kobal Tourism 4.0 Arctur Katarina Ceglar Urska Starc Peceny Jedrt Mikelj Dirk Schmücker Ulf Sonntag European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) Lucia Masarova Igor Kalinic Misa Labarile, PhD Paola Cianfriglia Tatiana Semenova Mia Lammens Bart Neuts NECSTouR Turismo Andaluz Toerisme Vlaanderen - VISITFLANDERS Institute for Tourism Research in Northern Europe Ministero del Turismo Ana Moniche Bermejo Daniel Caro Cristina Nuñez Ricardo Aguado Vincent Nijs

⏳Last Call!⏳ Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Join our team as an experienced EU Project Manager & work with our member regions & associates to help shape the future of sustainable tourism in Europe! 🌍✨ 🗓️ Deadline: Sunday night, 5 January 📄 All details via the link on our website www.necstour.eu #JobOpportunity #SustainableTourism #ProjectManager #LastCall #JoinUs