Objectives

The aim of the project was to study sustainability initiatives undertaken within the tourism industry, and to compare these initiatives to existing policy tools in order to provide policy-makers and industry practitioners with suggestions for new models for enhancing sustainable development within tourism.

Other objectives of the project were:

to develop scientific bases for the environmental management of tourism networks: development of environmental strategies, programmes, etc.
to identify the main policy, economic, institutional and methodological barriers to integration of sustainability considerations into tourism, and to propose practical measures to reduce these barriers; and
to develop alternative views of sustainable development and instructions for transition towards sustainability within the area of tourism.

The project was structured into several phases: development of common guidelines; data collection in relation to studied networks data analysis (by means of the software for qualitative analysis NUD*IST); and the evaluation and publication of results (through information, guides, conferences, etc).

Related Information

Further information at the EMPOST-NET official website

Objectives

Randa Group S.A. has been selected as a “Destination Consultant” in the tender of Qualitest.

According to European Commission, the aim of the study is to foster the competitiveness of European destinations focusing on Quality, compared to other cheaper destinations.

Nine test locations are involved in the project and have been chosen to represent rural, coastal and urban destinations.

The aim of this study is to develop indicators which allow the Destination Managers:

1. measuring and monitoring the Quality in their area, as a tool to improve the quality of their offer so as to become and remain competitive in a global market,
2. provide a tested methodology for the benchmarking of tourist destinations and their enterprises, to facilitate the exchange of experience in a cross-border content.

Randa Group S.A. collaborates in the project, collecting and evaluating the information from the municipality of El Vendrell (Tarragona) and participating in the selection of key indicators and in the final popular publication .

Related Information

Further information about Quality initiatives on the following Commission’s website:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/library/lib-tourism/index.htm