As Morski writes on the 19th of Seotember, 2019, following a meeting between Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Franković and representatives of the Global Council for Sustainable Tourism (GSTC) in Hamburg, it was agreed that this council should conduct a destination assessment for Dubrovnik, based on the criteria for sustainable tourism and destination management established by the United Nations (UN).
The research and measurement will last for three months, after which the city administration and Dubrovnik’s public will be presented with an expert evaluation of the activities to date and practical guidelines for improving the results in sustainable tourism. The sponsor of the project is the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a partner of the City of Dubrovnik and a signatory to the cooperation agreement for the preservation and protection of the cultural heritage of Dubrovnik.
In making its initial arrangements, GSTC Executive Director Randy Durband expressed his satisfaction with the council’s cooperation with Dubrovnik and CLIA. He called the GSTC Destination Assessment an important tool for identifying concrete priorities and catalysing real cooperative action.
”The GSTC destination assessment will include a wide range of Dubrovnik’s stakeholders in planning to maximise the benefits of tourism and at the same time minimise the negative effects on the city and its residents, and applying the GSTC standard for responsible destination management. Public-private partnerships such as the one based on the collaboration between the city and CLIA are crucial to ensuring the dialogue, commitment and resources needed to manage the destinations,” explained the director.
The city government will receive practical guidance, a measurement basis, and a stakeholder-developed hodogram to improve results in the most important areas of destination sustainability: destination management, benefits to the local economy, general life and cultural wellbeing, and the protection of nature and natural resources. The City of Dubrovnik will form a working team that will work closely with the council over the next three months, according to Deputy Mayor Jelka Tepsić.
”The sustainability measurement results will show us at what level of sustainability we’re at, but also define what our priorities need to be, from those where changes need to be made immediately to those that are at a satisfactory level of sustainability. We will be provided with specific information that will help us define further steps in managing the destination. We’re extremely grateful to CLIA for the sponsorship of this project, and it should be emphasised that GSTC is an independent body and that neither CLIA nor the city can influence the measurement results,” noted Tepsić.
Maria Deligianni, a spokeswoman for CLIA’s public relations organisation for the Eastern Mediterranean, said that the CLIA is continuing with this project the implementation of a collaboration with the City of Dubrovnik to preserve and protect the city’s heritage.
”CLIA Cruise Lines is committed to cooperating with destinations around the world with the goal of protecting and preserving the unique culture and heritage of each location, as well as the historic wealth that attracts new visitors year after year, so our cooperative work with the city is a testament to the success of our efforts,” Deligianni emphasised.
The City of Dubrovnik is one of the thirty international destinations for which GSTC will conduct a destination assessment and the only destination with CLIA as its sponsor.
To briefly recall, CLIA and the City of Dubrovnik signed an agreement back in July this year, agreeing to cooperate on the preservation and protection of the Pearl of the Adriatic’s cultural heritage through responsible tourism management to make the southernmost Croatian city an example of sustainable tourism in the Adriatic and beyond. One of the points of this agreement is precisely the cooperation on destination care planning based on the UN’s sustainable tourism criteria.
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