TOURAL Living Labs 2025
29 September 2025
On 27 September 2025, World Tourism Day was celebrated under the theme "Tourism and Sustainable Transformation", “highlighting tourism’s transformative potential as an agent of positive change”.
On this occasion, the ICBSS publishes an infographic with the key findings from the TOURAL Living Labs, a series of participatory workshops that took place in Spring 2025 under the framework of the EU-funded project TOURAL.
The TOURAL Living Labs were implemented across the six TOURAL Pilot Sites from the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-region (Italy, Croatia, Greece) and the Black Sea Basin (Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine). Developed by ICBSS and implemented by local partners, this collaborative process incorporated online and onsite tools to encourage stakeholders’ engagement and facilitate knowledge exchange. Diverse stakeholders collaborated to develop solutions that reflect the real needs and opportunities of the local communities.
KEY RESULTS
- In total, 257 stakeholders from Policy, Industry, Academia and Civil Society were involved in the entire Living Labs process across the six TOURAL Pilot Sites.
- The most up-to-date priorities, challenges and solutions for UCCST development per Pilot Site have been identified.
- Focus groups consisting of stakeholders from across various sectors were established at each Pilot Site.
The outcomes from the TOURAL Living Labs will feed the upcoming activities of the project, including the testing and co-validation of business models and tourism products and services.
In response to the need to promote rural and remote areas through alternative tourism, the TOURAL project was launched in 2024 with the objective of fostering UCCST (Underwater Cultural & Nature Heritage Tourism, Cultural & Creative Tourism, Cultural Science Tourism, Silver Tourism) as enablers of sustainable development.
The ICBSS leads WP2 on Cultural and Creative Tourism (CCT) Analysis & Policy Pathways.
