date: 16.03.2020
The Ovidius University of Constanţa pays special attention to the new strategic challenge of the European Union aimed at Blue Growth, as over 5.4 million jobs at EU level depend on the development of coastal and marine areas, and economic activities in the coastal and marine areas generate revenues of over 500 billion euros per year.
Since the first step to co-creating tourism for the future at the Black Sea is raising awareness about the role data analytics can have for sustainable tourism development in the region, the University organized a workshop titled "Tourism 4.0 for the Black Sea - Data Analysis for Sustainable Tourism Development Strategies" together with Marketing Development S.R.L. through the organizing tourism agency Sano Touring in Bucharest. This is the first of three events within the project that will bring together local authorities and government representatives, research institutes and tourist providers as well as other representatives of the tourism business environment at the regional and local levels to collaborate and transform tourism at the coastal area of Romania. More (in Romanian) here: Cristina Caluianu speaking of T4BS project on the national radio in Romania.mp3
The first workshop at the Black Sea attracted various local stakeholders of the tourism ecosystem, who have been welcomed by Ion Munteanu, Governor of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Administration. Moreover, they have become acquainted with the vision and tools of Tourism 4.0 as Tomi Ilijaš and Urška Starc Peceny, who have emphasised the importance of cooperation of all stakeholders involved in the tourism ecosystem. To implement tools such as the Tourism Impact Model, which enables assessing and planning the impact of tourism on different societal aspects in a specific micro location, access to data sources is key. Hence, data driven tourism needs to be co-created in collaboration with data owners, local authorities and the government as well as tourism providers and tourists.