The fourth Interregional Learning Event took place on 19-20th June 2018 in Crete, Greece, hosted by the Region of Crete.
The theme of the event was “The innovation of the tourism offer through synergies between private and public stakeholders”.
The first day of the event (19th of June) included a Lecture/presentation by Dr. Alexandros Apostolakis, the representative of TEI Crete in Culture-Tourism Pillar of RIS Crete, and a thematic workshop to present the partners' Good Practices (GPs). After this, a focus group was held by the project partners, in order to discuss, review and evaluate the presented GPs according to several criteria, such as their level of innovativeness, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and transferability. In the afternoon, the event continued with a study visit and guided tour to Cretan Gastronomy Center in Argyroupolis, one of the presented Crete’s GPs. At the end of the first day of the ILE, partners of BRANDTour project participated in Cretan olive oil tasting, made “ntakos” with tomatoes and gruyere, and tasted local cheeses, fruits, honey and traditional Cretan beverages.
At the second day, partners were transferred to Agios Nikolaos in order to visit “BioAroma Natural Products”, the certified and awarded company (in Greece and abroad) producing essential oils of Cretan herbs. Partners were informed about the organic herb cultivation of Crete, the use of old techniques, even ones which comes from the Minoan period. They were guided to the distillery and the production area of the essential oils, while they had the opportunity to experience and enjoy the unique aroma of essential oils and Cretan herbs.
The Steering Group meeting took place at the Municipal Art Gallery of Agios Nikolaos, right after the study visit in “BioAroma Natural Products”. Last but not least, partners were transferred by boat to Spinalonga island, the Nominated (tentative list) UNESCO World Heritage Site. Study visit to Spinalonga island highlighted the unique value of the emergence of an International Monument of Cultural Value, as a tourist product.
