Accessible and inclusive
tourist destinations

People living in 5 border regions in Greece and 4 regions in the Republic of North Macedonia are benefiting from the Interreg IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme “Greece – Republic of North Macedonia 2014-2020”. The Programme is worth more than EUR 45 million, with a contribution from the European Union of nearly EUR 39 million from the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).

The Programme supports regional cooperation between Greece and the Republic of North Macedonia. The Programme’s overall objective is to enhance territorial cohesion by improving living standards and employment opportunities holding respect to the environment and by using the natural resources for upgrading of the tourism product.

The Interreg IPA CBC Programme “Greece – Republic of North Macedonia 2014-2020” was approved by the European Commission on August 6, 2015 by decision C (2015) 5655.

The total budget allocated to the Programme is 45.470.066,00€, out of which 38.649.552,00€ (85%) is Union Support and the 6.820.514,00€ (15%) the National Counterpart.

The Programme is built upon the following three Priority Axes;

Priority Axis 1: Development and Support of Local Economy

Priority Axis 2: Protection of Environment – Transportation

Priority Axis 3: Technical support

Objectives

The main goal of the ALTER TRIP project is to motivate transformation of a territory into an accessible and inclusive tourist destination and support the sustainable development of heritage tourism in the CB area. There as contributing to the development of a CB Partnership, with the involvement and participation of the various agents of the tourist value chain that provide quality services to tourists with special needs.

Results

The main benefit resulting from project’s implementation is twofold: On the one hand improve attractiveness of the touristic product by creating a diversified all- season product in CB area focusing on the comparative advantages of rural areas attracting persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility in general and their families.

In parallel, the above will facilitate the partnership to address the competence gap on accessible tourism among SMEs in the tourism sector by offering a comprehensive training in the fields of accessible tourism, innovation and sustainable development of natural and cultural heritage areas, support entrepreneurship and increase the skills together with the public sector can develop further the project idea with enormous benefits for all, providing the relevant added value to the area.

Deliverables

The project consists of 5 Work Packages providing a well defined structure of what has to be achieved and how:

• Management and Coordination
• Information and Publicity
• Gap analysis on infrastructure, knowledge and skills required for dealing with disabled tourists
• Tool – Box for Training and Sustainability
• Translating Theory into Practice