The third stakeholders’ meeting of BRANDTour was held at the premises of the Region of Crete on Wednesday 28th March 2018, chaired by the Vice Governor on European and International Affairs, General Director of Development, Director of Environment, representatives of the Directorate of Tourism, as well as the “Cultural & Tourism complex” of the Smart Specialization (RISCrete), the Agrotouristic Union of Crete, the Agronutritional Cooperation of the Region of Crete and related business associations participated in order to exchange information regarding the networking and clustering of tourism SMEs and products in Crete.
At first, the stakeholders were informed about the exchange of experience and the Good Practices presented by the partners at the two Interregional Learning Events so far. They all agreed that Crete should take advantage of this learning process and target on these GPs that the island could apply to their fullest potential.
Later, the meeting focused on the identification of integrated cooperation on Tourism Innovation and Development among tourism SMEs. A deeper analysis followed by the attendants about successful stories through cooperative actions on alternative tourism in Crete. The participants issued their opinion about the needs, challenges and opportunities to enhance the promotion of clusters in the tourism industry of the region.
The discussion group noted that there are significant efforts by regional business networks, operating collective activities on Agrotourism sector. This “clustering” aims to revitalize the economy of rural communities and address seasonality by developing the Agrotourism offer and simultaneously, promoting Crete as an International Agrotourism Destination.
The participants concluded that the Region of Crete will present the Good Practices of Agrotourism collaborations at the upcoming ILE in Latvia. Both stakeholders and BRANDTour working group agreed that Crete has a great chance to show how the visitors can experience the authentic Crete through its agricultural facilities and traditional activities, the Cretan Diet and the special features of the Cretan countryside.