At a meeting held in Granada, Andalusia, Spain, on 23-24 January 2018, the CHRISTA Management and Coordination Team in association with the advisory partner ECTN and external expert from the University of Thessaly, Department of Planning and Regional Development, Unit of Tourism Planning, Research and Policy, presented the Guidelines for the preparation of the Action Plans.
These Guidelines were discussed and were concluded with inputs from the partners as follows:
1. To fully abide by the Action Plan template provided by the Programme and be results oriented, as a minimum
2. Action Plans to be in local language to facilitate discussion and adoption by the policy instrument owner and the regional/local stakeholders, with an Executive Summary and the proposed Actions in English
3. Start with a general brief profile of the policy instrument area and of the action area (if different), including statistics
4. Inclusion of relevant information on cultural assets and specific tourism issues (optional SWOT analysis, EFQM, ETIS applications, etc)
5. Vision Statement and Goals setting, in direct relation to the policy instrument improvements and policy change needs
6. Closely involve Stakeholders in planning, design, implementation and monitoring
7. Four Actions to be proposed, according to the 4 I’s of CHRISTA Project, or in combination
8. Proposed Actions to be realistic and according to Programme specifications:
New projects
Improved Governance
Structural Change
9. Propose Actions to be based explicitly on the exchange of experience process, by transfer of good practices between PPs
10. Proposed Actions to be related to the Policy Learning Guidelines by external expertise provided by ECTN on the 4 I’s
11. Include a specific Pilot Action as appropriate, with full justification, time frame, specifications and proposed budget for request to JS (request for change is needed for approval)
12. Incorporate innovative aspects throughout
13. Implementation of selected actions during Phase 2 to be scheduled over 24 months (April 2018 – March 2020) with expected policy changes
14. Monitoring process to be defined with relevant indicators for each Action Plan, also respecting the specific indicators specified in the approved Application Form
15. Conclusions and Recommendations Chapter, with synthesis regarding expected results, measurable targets, endorsement / signature / approval arrangements, adoption and follow-up process, for responsible and sustainable tourism development and promotion, linked to policy change.
These Guidelines are being employed by project partners and their experts in drawing up the Action Plans for implementation and monitoring during Phase 2 starting in April 2018 in the 9 destination regions of CHRISTA project.
The meeting in Granada was held in the frame of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018.
