More than 20 representatives of protected areas from nine Mediterranean countries gathered near the Natural Reserve of Monte Rufeno (Lazio Region, Italy) from 28 to 30 May 2014 in a training workshop on how to develop ecotourism products and promote the most innovative ecotourism principles around the Mediterranean.

The seminar was part of a series of training workshops for key stakeholders involved in the management of protected areas within the MEET project (Mediterranean Experience of Ecotourism). The objective is to provide participants with the knowledge and tools they need to develop and disseminate an ecotourism model.

The meeting, coordinated by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, was designed to explore marketing tools and other key products related to the tourism sector so as to improve the existing ecotourism services associated with Mediterranean protected areas to the standards required by the most demanding markets. In the opening session the president of Federparchi, Giampiero Sammuri, highlighted the importance of boosting ecotourism for local development.

A marketing analysis presented during the workshop provided a clear picture of four target markets for this project (USA, Canada, Australia and Japan), identified the leading operators (from a list of 230 tour operators, 47 were selected), and designed packages that would meet the requirements of the operators in each market.

Participants were invited to describe their ecotourism products in order to assess their potential for improvement in line with market requirements.

The training experts worked with participants on how to develop innovative and appealing products and demonstrate sustainable destination management. Other questions discussed were how to identify customer needs, what online marketing tools are available and how to make a business plan. Finally, the next steps for this project were set out: the coming weeks should see the launch of the online platform for the MEET network, and the creation of each park's own package.

This activity was developed within the framework of the MEET project, funded by the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI CBC MED). Nine countries in the Mediterranean basin took part: Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Spain and Tunisia.

For further information, please contact: Carla Danelutti