A tool for improving regional policy
The methodology
A sustainable tourism peer review is a mentoring visit, undertaken by a group of international experts, in order to assess a region's tourism policy. Peer reviews help regional authorities to understand how well their policies are working and support them in making improvements. They provide a good opportunity for regional representatives to learn from one another.
A peer review consists of a one-week visit by a multinational team of experts to a host region which is interested in improving its tourism policies in a sustainable way. During this visit, the review team holds meetings with tourism stakeholders in order to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the host region's tourism policies. After the visit the review team prepares a report with a series of recommendations on how to improve the region's tourism policies. The team's conclusions assess the region's performance against a set of tourism benchmarks, based on international best practice. The host region then considers the conclusions and prepares an action plan, setting out how it intends to implement them.
Participation
If you would like to participate in a Peer Review as an expert or your region would like to host a Peer Review, please contact the AER Secretariat
- "Ecotourism" describes a balance between polluting and enhancing the environment, especially in terms of harmful greenhouse gases. Picture by Lonni Sue Johnson
Why sustainable tourism?
Regions use the preservation and sustainable promotion of their tourism, landscape and cultural heritage as an important tool to support the diversification of their economies and the reconciliation of economic development with environmental interests. This can indeed improve the quality of life of the local population, creating high quality jobs, facilities and services. However, many examples show that badly planned branding of tourism can be a threat to the beauty and diversity of the European territory, rather than a vehicle for economic growth, job creation or innovation. In other words, Regions must be careful when developing their cultural heritage strategies, thinking in sustainable terms and adopting holistic approaches to managing these policies.
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Peer Review in Tatarstan (RU)
The Republic of Tatarstan hosted a Peer Review from 11-15 February 2008 in view of improving their tourism strategy in a sustainable way. 4 regional experts travelled to the region, met officials and stakeholders and are currently preparing their report and recommendations.
- The Peer Review team in a meeting with officials from Kazan
- Hans Blom, Prior Vsevolod (Raifa monastery), Eric Svoboda and Wolfgang Platzer in Kazan
Information documents for download
Peer Review Agenda
List of interviewees
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