TWINNEDbySTARS aims at increasing the competitiveness of the maritime tourism sector in the Outermost Regions (ORs) while contributing to protecting marine biodiversity, preserving cultural heritage, and developing marine astrotourism, recalling ancient navigators as a sustainable destination for these remote territories, by strengthening partnerships already in operation, capacity building, and co-creation for tourism products.
The viability of the project hinges on the execution of tangible activities involving both public and private entities that collectively represent the quadruple helix of the concerned regions. The envisaged collaboration is well-founded, drawing on the established working relationships among many of the participating entities from prior projects. The anticipated timeline for this initiative spans 36 months. In the initial phase, encompassing the first half of the project duration, activities such as analysis, mapping, stakeholder engagement, co-creation, and training definition will be implemented. Subsequently, during the second half, the focus will shift towards training execution, implementation of the marketing and commercialization plan, and testing of the developed product.
The Challenge
TWINNEDbySTARS seeks to enhance the competitiveness of maritime tourism in the Outermost Regions (OR’s) by promoting marine biodiversity conservation, safeguarding cultural heritage, and fostering the development of marine astrotourism. The project envisions the Outermost Regions as a sustainable destination for these remote territories, drawing inspiration from ancient navigators. This initiative aims to create a new tourist destination in the ORs, characterised by shared attractions centred around biodiversity, cultural heritage, and astrotourism. The focus is on offering regional and trans-regional eco-tourism products and packages. To achieve this, the project aims to bolster an existing collaborative network of tourism stakeholders across the four Atlantic ORs.
The solution
The project will offer an alternative to seasonal and mass tourism by making responsible use of the marine-maritime environment while promoting environmental care and blue and circular economy. The viability of the project hinges on the execution of tangible activities involving both public and private entities that collectively represent the quadruple helix of the concerned regions. The envisaged collaboration is well-founded, drawing on the established working relationships among many of the participating entities from prior projects. In the initial phase, encompassing the first half of the project duration, activities such as analysis, mapping, stakeholder engagement, co-creation, and training definition will be implemented. Subsequently, during the second half, the focus will shift towards training execution, implementation of the marketing and commercialization plan, and testing of the developed product.
The Objectives
- Strengthening and sustaining cooperation networks in maritime and coastal tourism within the ORs. This involves linking the quadruple helix and ensuring network homogeneity through the promotion of certifications and promoting a unified brand image.
- Upskilling and capacity building for tourism firms and stakeholders in coastal and maritime tourism. This includes fostering circular economy practices, facilitating digital transition, promoting networking, and encouraging innovation.
- Creating new spaces for the co-creation of innovative products and nautical tourism experiences. This encompasses activities such as star tourism, marine ecotourism, sustainable Atlantic crossing using trade winds, and the application of virtual reality.
Work Packages
WP1 | Leader: Maritime Cluster of the Canary Islands (CMC)
Strengthening and sustainability of cooperation networks in maritime and coastal tourism in the outermost regions
WP1 analyses maritime and coastal tourism networks in the Atlantic ORs, maps the actors and involves the most relevant stakeholders in line with the TWINNEDbySTARS initiative. Certifications will be promoted and standardised in order to boost digitalisation of SMEs of the ORs and the circular economy. Lastly, internationalisation and legacy plans will be implemented to support the international visibility and the products development.
WP2 | Leader: University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC)
Upskilling and capacity building
WP2 aims to implement a capacity building programme with tourism firms, decision makers and other relevant stakeholders, fostering transnational cooperation among ORs. The objective is to increase awareness, motivation, skills, and provide them with tools to accelerate digital and ecological transition, and to identify opportunities for open innovation with actors from other ORs.
WP3 | Leader: Nautic Ocean (NAUTIC OCEAN)
Generation of new spaces for co-creation of new products and new nautical tourism experiences
WP3 focuses on creating joint working groups with entrepreneurs in the coastal and maritime tourism sector to foster co-creation and generate new tourism products or business initiatives and joint growth. An analysis of the existing products and development sites will be implemented. The objective is to generate spaces for co-creation, and developing joint products in areas like star tourism, marine ecotourism, and sustainable Atlantic crossings using virtual reality. The final goal is to test at least one product and create a marketing and business plan.
WP4 |Leader: Canarian Science and Technology Park Foundation of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (FCPCT-ULPGC) / CONSULTA EUROPA (CE)
Coordination and Management
WP4 aims at coordinating and managing all project activities at the administrative, legal and financial level: internal and external flow of information, the use of resources and the budget, provision of the deliverables and risk mitigation strategies. Some of the first and regular actions in the project will be to establish a Consortium Agreement, submit all relevant reports to and communicate with the EU.
This WP ensures consistency across the WPs by standardisation of approach including data collection, methodology, analysis, and storage.
WP5 |Leader: Consulta Europa (CE)
Communication & Dissemination
WP5 responds to all project objectives since its aims at disseminate and transfer the outputs and results of all TWINNEDbySTARS activities to its key stakeholders. A dissemination and communication plan will be developed detailing target groups to be reached, communication channels, tools, and outputs to be used, and providing a calendar of D&C activities.
Promotional project materials and tools, including website, logo, roll-ups and content for social media will be created. In order to engage society, several national and international events, webinars, workshops and awareness-raising activities will be implemented.