Come probabilmente saprete, la stagionalità è una delle principali sfide per il turismo europeo. Incentivare i flussi turistici il turismo durante la bassa stagione può contribuire alla competitività del settore turismo stimolando la crescita dell'occupazione e dell'economia in Europa.

La Commissione europea ha identificato i turisti senior (over 55) e i giovani (15 - 29 anni) come gruppi che possono facilmente viaggiare nei periodi di bassa stagione. Proprio per questo, nel corso degli ultimi due anni, il programma COSME ha finanziato numero progetti pilota che rappresentano una incredibile fonte di ispirazione per imprese e destinazioni turistiche. Ne ho raccolto qui alcuni esempi molto interessanti.


 

EUMillennialsTOUR project aims at offering an immersive learning/creative trip addressed to the edu/school-trip tourism market field. School-trips are planned by secondary schools all over the year, as well as students from HEIs and ACADs travel mainly for learning purposes. Basing on this particular fact, school-trip tourism can effectively contribute to improve arrivals in low-medium season period, meeting the goals of the Calypso initiative. The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and World Youth Student and Educational (WYSE) Travel Confederation together have documented the growing role that youth and student travel has taken within the global tourism industry over the last decades. More young people travel and do so more frequently and over greater distances than ever before. Building on these premises, EUMillennialsTOUR will create a transnational tourism product for the school-trip tourism market, addressed to secondary schools and High Education Institutes/ACADs, increasing the competitiveness of the EU tourism and capitalizing the shared value of European industrial heritage sites under the paradigm of sustainability, by also complementing national, regional and local policies in the field of creative industries and industrial heritage tourism, contributing to the professionalization of the tourism, cultural and educational workers. The resulting tourism product will also stimulate the young generations to the value of EU industrial heritage sites as memory of our past.

The main idea of the OFF TO SPA'S project is to create new, thermal water related international health tourism products (international balneology product) in spa towns of Central Europe, that could serve as a main attraction in order to bring seniors to these regions in the low tourism seasons. As one of our main objective is to involve and mobilise the largest number of various players of the health tourism value chain, the project will be open for the direct involvement of keys stakeholders (e.g. spa towns, health related associations to join in for product development and other phases as well.
OFF TO SPA'S project intends to set a good practice in bringing together various economic players from different geographical locations in order to reach a common goal, which is of the interest of all participants. We would like to demonstrate that by good planning, harmonising goals and with a fairly low financial investment, new transnational tourism networks and products could be developed, that could provide not only tempting leisure programmes but could also serve as improving or maintaining good health conditions of senior tourists.
The main objectives of the projects:
  1. Encourage a better cooperation and increased agreements among different actors of the health tourism value chain
  2. Increasing the number of tourism flows during the low and medium seasons;
  3. Communication and promotion of tourism as a strategy for active and healthy ageing;
  4. Foster the construction of innovative health insurance policies in order to make the product sustainable
Actions proposed:
Creating a new, international balneology tourism product network with the above mentioned aims;
Senior market analysis, surveys, comparative analysis and other related studies;
Local resource based and market-oriented re-positioning of the complementary spa dedestinations
Holding discuss platforms, workshops and other events.
Fostering and facilitating the negotiations amongst the health insurance companies and health services.

Meet Nature is a tourism Product for Seniors to experience nature through creative and playful learning. Based on recent studies, Nature is the most highly appreciated asset for the destinations of seniors. Therefore, the proposed Product aims to bring the seniors into nature and offer the challenging experience of its complexity and diversity, through creative and playful learning. In more detail, on occasion of a leisure trip, seniors will be guided through areas of unique interest and a skilled team of experts will provide them with the tools necessary to deeply understand great and little miracles like geotopes, wetlands, river meanders, fauna species footprints and sounds, growing stages of flora species, etc.
The Projects pilot test running - designed to take place in low and medium seasons - is expected to create an integrated final Tourist Product that will add value in the tourism sector and that can be directly replicable.
The main challenge faced is to bring personal fulfillment to the seniors, by presenting nature in a totally different perspective than the common experience in nature.


The aim of the Barock Festival project is to establish a participatory baroque festival for seniors which will be tested an evaluated in the European region Danube-Vltava (Austria and Germany) in order to increase senior tourism in low season times in Europe and eventually to transfer this touristic offer to other European baroque regions. The baroque festival Danube-Vltava is based on the idea, to offer singing weeks for amateur musicians, especially singers from church choirs. Under professional guidance, oratories, passions and other musical works of baroque composers can be elaborated, rehearsed and performed. The concerts are held at major baroque venues such as churches, castles and monasteries. The festival consists of a range of different concerts, which will be held at different venues in the European region Danube-Vltava, mainly in Upper Austria and Eastern Bavaria. After the successful implementation of the pilot-festival in Austria and Germany, the project will be extended to the whole Danube-Vltava region. Especially Pilsen, which is European Capital of Culture 2015, is an important baroque destination, due to their baroque focus, as well as close cooperation with Linz. The uniqueness of this festival is based on the historical background of the European region Danube-Vltava. Due to the historical connections based on secular and church-related structures, the regions covered by the project have been commonly shaped during the baroque period. Due to these circumstances the Danube-Vltava region provides an abundance of perfect locations for such baroque festivals. The pilot-festival will be tested in the Easter period (April 2016), as this time of the year represents a low season in the region. In total it is planned to hold 15 concerts in Austria and Germany, which will attract approximately 3.750 concerts visitors (locals and guests).

 
SEnior TOURism - Discovering European Territories through Golf and Wine. The project intends to promote the development of a transnational tourism product for seniors (over 55) with an integrated approach to thematic tourism development, in order to enhance as much as possible ALL values and assets that the local cultures can offer and in particular the offer for the practice of golf and wine tourism by valorising the trails and routes through wine growing areas. Since both the practice of golf and wine tourism are not linked to a specific period of the year, the proposed tourism product will also facilitate tourism flows in the involved Countries during their respective low and medium seasons.
This will be done by elaborating a special touristic product where trails, routes and paths for all areas are defined, following a shared model that will give guidance to the local tourism operators and interest groups (tourism SME, wine growers, golf facilities). Furthermore, the developed touristic product will be made available through a dedicated web-portal and mobile app where interested travellers may plan, book and purchase their vacation package immediately and receive a confirmation on reservation within 3 hours form the request.
The project is expected to design a transnational tourism product specifically addressed to senior people (over 55), by offering the practice of golf and the discovery of territories through the culture of wine, and to develop such product into four different touristic package.
The proposed touristic product, developed in four different packages, will be even tested by at least 96 senior travellers (24 per each travel, of which 12 at their own expenses), in order to have, at the end of the project, an evaluation report on the proposed touristic product with eventual perspectives for further development and adaptation to the market needs.


Cycling is the perfect tool for increasing the number of seniors undertaking holidays both domestically as well as to other European destinations. Silver Cyclists project therefore aims to increase the flows of senior tourists, especially during the low and medium seasons, by promoting active holidays that incorporate cycling and more specifically EuroVelo, the European cycle route network. In doing so, the project will benefit SMEs across Europe that are directly involved with active tourism (e.g. tour operators, cycle hire etc.) and/or which are located close to the EuroVelo routes (e.g. hotels, cafes etc.).
The objectives of the Silver Cyclists project are to:
- Support the extension of the tourism season by encouraging more senior cycle tourists, thereby contributing to improving SME’s competitiveness and jobs growth.
- Foster transnational cooperation along the tourism value chain by bringing together partners from across Europe linked by the EuroVelo routes.
- Facilitate European public-private partnerships related to cycle and senior tourism.
- Foster seniors’ wider sense of European citizenship through increased intra-EU mobility along the EuroVelo network.
These will be achieved by:
- Analysis of the special needs of seniors.
- Designing cycling tourism product concepts for seniors.
- Running a pilot test in five European countries to validate the tourism product concept.
- Measuring and evaluating the test's results and summarising the lessons learnt.
- Commuicating and promoting the products to target groups, particularly potential senior cycling tourists.
- Establishing networks and partnering activities on a transnational level in order to facilitate exchanges of best practice.
The Silver Cyclists project would therefore, support the COSME Work Programme, particularly in terms of dealing with the issues of seasonality and encouraging more seniors to undertake holidays in Europe.


Partners of the HANSATOUR project aim to use the European (material and immaterial) heritage of the Hanseatic League to attract senior cultural tourists to Hanseatic cities during low/mid season. Participating cities are the small / medium sized and relatively unknown Hanseatic cities along the IJssel (the Netherlands), the ‘Rheinische Hanse’ (in Germany), Kuldiga (Latvia) and Kaunas (Lithuania). Partners want to capitalise on the tourism potential that their Hanse heritage offers and on the Hansa brand awareness that already exists amongst many senior tourists. Within the HANSATOUR project, partners will develop a thematic and demand oriented tourism offer, tailored on senior cultural tourists needs. Public private collaboration throughout the value chain and between sectors (government / marketing bodies / tourism SMEs / heritage sector / senior organisations / knowledge institutes) is crucial to the chosen approach. Other key elements of the project proposal are: A thorough identification and analysis of the senior target groups, in collaboration with senior organisations; The development of storylines (narratives) to ‘open up’ history and to enrich visitor experiences; The development of a cross-border and cross-media marketing strategy.
Partners develop Hansa tourism packages, in close collaboration with tourism service providers (SMEs), that will be tested by foreign/incoming tourists in March and April 2016, both by an organised test panel and through regular sales. One of the packages concerns a cross-border boat trip from Kampen (Dutch Hansa city along the IJssel river) to Wesel (German Hansa city along the Rhine), to be developed in collaboration with shipping company Eureka (partner 5). Evaluation activities focus on marketing exposure, sales, visitor experiences/intentions, tourism service providers experience/intentions. Best practises and lessons learned will be actively disseminated via the New Hansa League network (183 cities in 16 countries).
  • Project duration: 01/09/2015 - 30/09/2016
  • Coordinator: STICHTING MARKETINGOOST - Netherlands

VOYAGE - Valuable Opportunities You Are Given in Europe - project will develop a new self-sustainable tourism product – entrepreneurial travel, which consists of theoretical and practical activities for young people interested in tourism industry and , which has no direct dependence on changing seasons. During the pilot project we will select 60 participants (6 groups) who are willing relate their work-future with tourism industry and will apply 2 weeks mobility scheme: Greece- Sicily- Greece or Greece-Turkey- Greece. Our initial theme of entrepreneurial travel and the pilot version that will be tested during the implementation of VOYAGE project, will be “Sailing is like business, lessons learned improve your chances to succeed”. However, in the long-term perspective, the topics of entrepreneurial travel will vary accordingly to the demand.
During the instructive sessions learners will be introduced to various related theories, will get necessary training and will develop essential skills required in tourism business. The ultimate goal of the entrepreneurial travel is to evaluate concepts of new transnational tourism products with potential partners and/or sponsors. These concepts will be presented during the final conference. The aim of the final conference is dual: to disseminate information about the project and its results, and to promote the best newly developed ideas that could be turned into real business. After evaluation the most promising projects will receive all necessary assistance that is required to improve and finalize preparation stage before starting their own business.
The Greenways Outdoor objective is the creation and transnational promotion of an outdoor tourism product linked to European greenways, and on the improvement of the capacity building of SMEs located in their vicinity, so that they can tailor their services to the demands of customers and so become more competitive.
Greenways are “independent communication paths” for exclusively non-motorized use which are very accessible for any type of user because they have few or no slopes and are often built on abandoned railway lines and canal towpaths. Consequently, they give easy access to places of great beauty (e.g. in mountainous areas, through tunnels and over viaducts). These infrastructures are highly appreciated in cycle tourism networks because they are extremely safe, accessible to everyone, and user-friendly. There are thousands of km of greenways in Europe.
The project will result in the creation of special tourism packages related to outdoor sporting activities; a European catalogue of “greenways outdoor” tourism products will be created together with a “catalogue of professional services and equipment around greenways” to be used by tour operators and end users.
Mass participation events will be held (e.g. marathons, cycle tours, Nordic walking, for all) to attract new customers.
Joint dissemination and promotion activities will be implemented on a pan-European scale through workshops and conferences, participation in specialized fairs, the creation of a European greenways outdoor award, a European photo competition, web page, blogs, press trips.
The competitiveness of the companies related to greenways tourism will be enhanced and their integration in tourism products promoted.
Public-private collaboration will be encouraged to facilitate the creation of a greenways tourism product.
The sum of the actions to be developed will make substantial progress in achieving recognition for the European greenways brand as a suitable product for outdoor tourism.
  • Project duration: 01/06/2015 - 30/11/2016
  • Coordinator: ASSOCIATION EUROPEENNE DES VOIES VERTES AISBL - Belgium - (COORDINATOR)
  • http://www.greenwaysoutdoor.org/

HOST, the Heritage of Olive Tree for Sustainable Tourism project, intends to develop a tourism product based on sport activities declined in a rural environment. 4 areas of Italy, Greece, Slovenia and Malta are involved, they share the presence of a Mediterranean landscape characterised by the olive tree heritage. Olive Tree Routes and/or Olive Groves Itineraries exist in all partner areas. Authorities contributed over the years funding the Olive Road initiatives and since 2005 the CoE supports the transnational initiative of the Route of Olive Tree as a way to learn about the culture of Mediterranean countries. We intend to promote four large international sport events made up of trails and marathons. By running together European sport lovers will contribute connecting the local Olive Tree Roads/itineraries into a Virtual Transnational Route of Olive Tree. We estimated that such sport events may catalyse attention on target territories, activating local economies. Diversified tourist packages will be developed in coincidence with these sport events (and all over the year) to discover the cultural and environmental richness of the territories. At the same time the project develops initiatives for territorial branding and marketing (an advanced, responsive and integrated web portal, an innovative digitalPR strategy, situation and market analyses), for the establishment of a better cooperation framework (SMEs networking, DMO establishment) and for building actors’ capacities (through a training program). The project will be connected to local initiatives underlining the rural heritage to boost local development (festivals, promotion of the olive tree wood for art crafts as well as of olive oil for cosmetics). The project is submitted by a partnership consistent with the initiatives to be developed, well rooted and fruitfully collaborating with local actors.We have the ultimate goal to promote a territorial brand for the involved countries bringing to less seasonal tourist flows with consequent revitalisation of high-quality local products.
    • Project duration: 01/06/2015 - 30/11/2016
    • Coordinator: FONDAZIONE CAMPUS STUDI DEL MEDITERRANEO - Italy


SilViAlp -Silver Via Alpina - intends to develop and promote a sustainable transnational tourism product consisting in a hiking package on the long-haul Via Alpina Yellow Trail, tailored on 55+needs in terms of travel comfort, safety, security and lifestyle.
The hiking package includes long haul hiking routes, accommodation, different activities, emergency support, luggage service and public transport connection.
By focussing on the senior target group, this project not only diversifies the tourism offer in the hiking sector facing challenges related to the demographic change, but it also increases the competitiveness of mountain tourism through the development of a unique tourism product and the de-seasonalization of tourism activity.
Based on the development of the hiking package, SilViAlp will extract a scalable business model to be transferred to similar areas in the Alpine bow and elsewhere (such as the Carpathian mountains). The project benefits from the support of destination management organisations/umbrella brands, tour operators, public authorities, hiking associations and other mountain-related stakeholders. During the project, specific innovative technologies supporting the individual activities during the trip and allowing the participants to share the hiking experience with a community of senior hikers will be developed, taking into account 55+ needs in terms of friendliness and usability.


The main objective of this project is to define and promote a sustainable transnational surf tourism product called SURFINGEUROPE, providing a wide visibility of the product and its market uptake. The product will cover five countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland and the UK.
Nowadays, there is an increasing demand for nature tourism in Europe. Surf has the potential to become one of the most attractive tourist choices within this trend since the European Atlantic coast has an impressive offer of surf beaches, with waves during the whole year, and some of them are considered to be among the best surf beaches from all over the world.
Nowadays, the different locations in Europe are carrying out individual actions, at local and regional level, for developing the surf tourism, but very few actions have been considered at transnational level under the umbrella of a route. It is necessary to consider the European surf as an ecosystem for the European Atlantic Coast and taking advantage of the surf philosophy based on the movement and the very good communication facilities that Europe.
The consortium of the current project has decided to deploy a sustainable transnational surf tourism product, SURFINGEUROPE, which establishes Europe as surfing route. The destinations of the route will be the following: Viana do Castelo (Portugal), Ribamontan al Mar (Cantabria, Spain), San Sebastian (Basque County, Spain), region of Brittany (France), Bundoran (Ireland) and the regions of South West England, Wales and the Channel Islands (the United Kingdom)
    • Project duration: 01/06/2015 - 30/11/2016
    • Coordinator: FOMENTO DE SAN SEBASTIAN SA - Spain

 
Project WILDSEA Europe aims to develop a transnational Sustainable Tourism Route connecting European coastal destinations with a rich marine biodiversity that can be experienced through water sports & coastal trails (diving, snorkeling, kayaking, boating, hiking, etc.) and that thrives on current scientific efforts to better understand and preserve marine ecosystems and species.
WILDSEA Europe will provide information on European destinations, natural sites of interest and flag species/habitats as well as commercial channels to engage in tourism experiences that will allow tourists and visitors to make responsible contact with marine species in the wild through the practice of water sports and coastal activities, while learning about their ecology and participating in efforts to preserve them.
What will WILDSEA Europe do for European Coastal Tourism Destinations?
1) Build a strong business case for the sustainable development of Europe's coastal tourism destinations, showcasing biodiversity as a valuable tourist asset and engaging the private sector in its conservation.
2) Provide SMEs with a portal (marketplace) that will facilitate their access to tourism markets and support local, regional and transnational (European) collaboration in the marketing of tourism experiences within the Tourism value chain.
3) Promote public-private cooperation at destination level so as to create synergies between public and private action in the Tourism sector that leads to improved competitiveness at destination (public) and industry (private) level.
4) Facilitate the development of new tourism experiences & packages that attract new visitors to coastal tourism destinations, giving water sports an additional edge and purpose.
5) Engage the private sector, citizens and visitors in the conservation of marine biodiversity by introducing Citizen Science in the day-to-day practice of tourist operators.