The project “OMNIS – Co-creation of Inclusive Sustainable Tourism Itineraries and Packages from Coastal to Inner Areas” is co-financed by the Interreg VI Italy-Croatia Programme 2021-2027 (cross-border cooperation programme).
Last results
OMNIS partners worked in the last months on training sessions. Designed for tourism stakeholders identified through stakeholder analysis and young individuals from tourism high schools and universities, the series covers vital topics in English, Croatian, and Italian.
The content focuses on developing sustainable, participatory, and inclusive itineraries and packages, drawing from insights in the “Sustainable Travel Trends Research in Italy and Croatia’s Coastal and Inner Areas Report.”
The first episodes feature Domenico Sarleti, CEO of Tripdoggy Srl, sharing tips on warmly welcoming travelers with dogs, and Ines Hlevnjak, Project Manager at the County Association of Blind and Visually Impaired People in Split, discussing accommodations for visually impaired and blind travelers.
The first episodes feature Domenico Sarleti, CEO of Tripdoggy Srl, sharing tips on warmly welcoming travelers with dogs, and Ines Hlevnjak, Project Manager at the County Association of Blind and Visually Impaired People in Split, discussing accommodations for visually impaired and blind travelers.
Online Transnational Training Sessions
Risposte Turismo and the other two project partners, Catria and Nerone Mountain Union and Shuttle realised two reports which are the groundwork of the whole project.
The first report Sustainable travel trends research in Italy and Croatia’s coastal and inner areas is a beneficial instrument for the OMNIS project partner to understand better the current tourism situation, the targets to be involved, and the offer of the OMNIS project areas. In particular, 10 relevant themes were identified and analysed, based on the tourist resources of each OMNIS project areas, upon which the itineraries will be created, focusing on the needs and desires of the targets of people travelling with their pets and visually impaired people eventually travelling with their guide dogs. They are 1) Wine Tourism; 2) Oil, cheese, and other food specialities; 3) Tradition-heritage (focus on local culture); 4) Active tourism; 5) Relax, detox, and wellness; 6) Natural and geological tourism; 7) Archaeological; 8) Religious; 9) Shopping and artisanal products; 10) Traditional music and local festivals.
The second one called Tourism Stakeholders analysis is a work detailing the tourism stakeholders such as accommodations, associations, digital platforms, public authorities, restaurants, tourism organizations, attractions, transportation, wineries, etc., divided into two groups between stakeholders directly operating with the OMNIS project targets and general tourism stakeholders of the OMNIS projects areas relevant for the 10 themes identified.
The project and its partners
The overall objective of the project is to lay the foundations for fruitful cooperation between tourism stakeholders of coastal and inner areas of Italy and Croatia by creating and distributing inclusive sustainable digitalised tourism itineraries and connected packages for tourists that travel with pets focusing on those with guide dogs fostering sustainable economic development and social inclusion in local communities.
The project’s total duration is 18 months, from the 01st of July 2023 to the 31st of December 31 2024, subject to possible extensions. The total budget is €250,000.00, with 80% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The project participants are:
– LP1: The Mountain Union of Catria and Nerone (IT) as the lead partner.
– PP2: Risposte Turismo (IT) as a partner.
– PP3: Shuttle D.o.o (IT) as a partner.
Kick-off meeting
The Kick-off Meeting of OMNIS project has been held in Venice. During the afternoon public session many stakeholders and locations from Italy and Croatia welcoming blind and visually impaired people and realizing ad hoc experiences contributed to the discussion and exchanged best practices to start developing a productive dialogue to reach the project goals.
Kick-off meeting Public Session - YouTube
The project area covers:
- In Italy: from the coastal area of the Province of Pesaro-Urbino to the Low Pesarese and Anconetano Apennines area, consisting of nine municipalities: Acqualagna, Apecchio, Arcevia, Cagli, Cantiano, Piobbico, Frontone, Sassoferrato, and Serra Sant’Abbondio;
- In Croatia: from the coastal area of Split to the inner area of the Split-Dalmatia County.
The project outputs include:
- Online transnational training sessions with innovative content for tourism stakeholders and young people: At least 20 tourism operators and 20 young people from project areas will take part in the online transnational training sessions to learn how to create inclusive and sustainable itineraries and packages through a participative approach based on the themes and good practices previously deepened.
- Cross-border exchange visit to test and validate the inclusive sustainable itineraries and packages: A panel of 20 tourists with pets and guide dogs will participate in the cross-border exchange visit to test and validate inclusive and sustainable itineraries.
- OMNIS responsive website for desktop and mobile: The OMNIS website is a digital tool that will contain itineraries and packages based on tourism resources (tourist points of interest, cultural heritage, natural resources) which will have an interface which will have an interface also accessible to blind or visually impaired people widening access to culture and cultural heritage. It will thrive inclusion of more vulnerable people and wider services in tourist destinations.
- OMNIS brand: The project will set up the cross-border OMNIS brand for inclusive and sustainable tourism itineraries and packages. It will foster cooperation between coastal and inner areas by creating new itineraries and packages accessible most to animal friendly tourists and the blind or visually impaired.
- OMNIS community: The OMNIS online community will promote collaboration between coastal and inland stakeholders to create coordinated, sustainable and innovative offers and itineraries, as well as packages jointly designed with tourism stakeholders and the local population to ensure that coastal and inland tourism resources can be used in an equitable manner favouring the sustainable development of local communities
The project’s result is to change the behaviours of tourism operators in coastal and inner areas fostering collaboration for a balanced tourism flow. This will be possible through the distribution of itineraries and packages included in the website that will connect both coastal and inner areas and the creation of an online community of tourism operators that work together. The approach developed underlying inclusivity, sustainability and participation and the well-being of the residents as a sustainability factor of tourism will be taught to tourism stakeholders. The OMNIS project expects that tourism operators could apply the same approach to the creation of products for other groups of tourists with special needs such as people with food allergies, and elderly people… Also, OMNIS expect to increase the number of tourists travelling with pets and blind and visually impaired people by widening tourist offer dedicated to them.
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