The second edition of the Nature Tourism Biennial (BTN'19), which will take place from the 22nd to the 24th of February at the Pavilion Multiusos in Aljezur, has as its general theme the theme of sustainability.
Aura Fraga, president of Vicentina – Association for the Development of the Southwest, which promotes BTN'19, reveals that “two years ago, when we started preparing the Bienal, it was important to design an event that would be useful to the territory and that would add value. And we immediately thought about the issue of sustainability”, since “it is almost impossible to avoid the issue of sustainability when talking about tourism and, above all, when talking about nature tourism”.
In an interview with the program «Impressões», produced in partnership by Rádio Universitária do Algarve (RUA FM) and by Sul Informação, and that can be heard in full by clicking here, the person in charge explained why the Bienal is once again the result of Vicentina's initiative. For now, because «we cannot forget the roots of Vicentina, as an association for local development, whose operations are inserted in a certain territory».
A Nature Tourism Biennial Thus, within the scope of a plan developed by AMAL – Algarve Intermunicipal Community, which brings together the 16 municipalities, «the Support Plan for the Development of Endogenous Resources, within the scope of CRESC Algarve, which aims to leverage public investment to facilitate private investment , which associations and LAGs are promoting in the territory'.
In the area of influence of the Vicentina association – the extreme Barlavento and Costa Vicentina – one of the main resources is precisely the natural heritage. Hence, the local development association has decided to propose «to AMAL, the inclusion in the Plan of an inter-municipal project of the Bienal de Turismo de Natureza. There was an edition some time ago [in 2014] and therefore it would make sense to have a new event that would add value to this first one. We made the proposal to AMAL, it was approved by the Intermunicipal Council, integrated into the plan, approved by the CCDR». And so came this second edition of BTN.
And why is the Bienal taking place in Aljezur again? «Vicentina had the need to initiate a process to decide where the event would take place. We held several meetings to prepare the event, in reality around 50, with the various entities and municipalities», said Aura Fraga.
Opinions were divided, some thought that it shouldn't be in Aljezur again, others that it was. "There are many opinions, finding a consensus is the most difficult". Therefore, he added, "after a long time, a decision had to be taken and conditions were gathered, both financial and opinion, so that it would be in Aljezur." And it will be.
As for the chosen theme – sustainability – the president of Vicentina added, in her interview, that “when we started working on the theme, we found that it was still an abstract concept. How is sustainability operationalized so that it can be said that we are going to reach a goal and that we are managing a territory in a sustainable way? It's still a long way before we're there».
Since it is such a broad concept, the organization of the Bienal considered that it would be “important to try to translate it into actions: to study, to reflect on how it could be translated into actions that could be incorporated into the daily activities of communities, institutions, companies'.
And it was in this research on the topic that the issue of sustainability certifications emerged, which, according to Aura Fraga, «translates into checklists actions and indicators, which allow, for example, a company to assess the degree of sustainability of its activity, or what adaptations it needs to make to achieve these sustainability indicators».
“We also realized that there were other territories, other regions, that were already working in this direction, that is, working so that the region or territory adhered to some certifications, namely of sustainable destinations”.
Bearing in mind that "all this is still very early", perhaps it would be interesting to "promote reflection and knowledge on the subject", bringing to Nature Tourism Biennial «people related to these certifications and who can explain to us how they work and how to join, bring destinations and organizations that are already working in this direction, such as the Alentejo and the Azores».
«We work in a territory where nature tourism is indeed a great potential, given the richness of its natural heritage, but at the same time, it is also important to understand what is the thread of this development, what is the goal, how we would like it to be nature tourism in this territory in 2030», continues Aura Fraga
For this reason, the Bienal and its program intend to be “a proposal for reflection, a contribution that can be very useful for our work and for that of other actors and entities, who have much more responsibility than Vicentina in managing the territory. ».
Is that, if Tourism, namely Nature, is an opportunity, it can also bring unpleasant consequences. “Sustainability points to three basic concepts: environmental, social and economic sustainability. It seems to us that it might be very interesting to reflect now, that Nature Tourism is growing, how we would like it to grow. If it will grow through a set of individual and stray initiatives or through a plan, with established goals and that could respect these sustainability, environmental, social and economic principles».
The president of the Vicentina association is not afraid of appearing romantic when she considers that it can be “very useful, at this time when a new framework, new guidelines is being prepared, which could bring together many regional actors, with different responsibilities at various levels, reflecting around this subject",
For this reason, Aura Fraga took advantage of the interview with the «Impressions» program to make «a strong invitation to those who work in the area, from the small entrepreneur, the animation company, the local accommodation, the hotel, so that we could all come together to think on this".
The program will be varied and will invest heavily in bringing specialists and mentors to Aljezur, with concrete experiences in areas such as certification and sustainability.
«Instead of going to discuss problems, we are going to debate a common thread for solutions», stresses the Vicentina director, who announces that «there will be a large number of knowledge workshops, which will focus on natural heritage, so that knowledge about the natural heritage of the Algarve, which is very rich».
These workshops – which will be 50, all with free registration, but mandatory – will also focus on “the development of nature tourism activities” or on the “management of nature tourism companies”. "What we ask of all mentors who will be responsible for these workshops is that there is always a mention on the issue of sustainability in the development of activities".
Aura Fraga stresses that sustainability has to do with the profile of today's tourist. “Tourist's motivations are changing, there are new generations of tourists for whom, increasingly, the motivation of a sustainable destination is present in the decision about their holidays”.
"Often there is the wrong idea that if we limit activities to ensure their environmental sustainability, economic sustainability is at stake." However, he warns, especially in territories like Costa Vicentina, what is needed is “to be careful, because the lack of environmental sustainability can be the path to the lack of economic sustainability”. The ideal, he argues, is to be able to "reconcile everything".
“A sustainable destination is not only aimed at protecting heritage, but also protecting the economic activity itself, because those looking for it are increasingly looking for sustainable destinations,” he stresses.
The Nature Tourism Biennial, no matter how much you talk and reflect, there will be no concrete measures. "Our main objective with this event is to raise some hares and that a plan can be structured in order to have a preventive attitude in relation to the risks that arise and prevent them from taking hold."
From this Bienal, Aura Fraga points out, “some consensus may emerge, awareness, some knowledge that may allow those who have responsibilities to incorporate issues such as sustainability into their activity”.
The Bienal, underlines, “it appears as part of an AMAL project, the municipalities have the responsibility for managing the territory, the Tourism Region, the University has a very important role here in terms of knowledge, which must be passed on to new entrepreneurs”.
For Aura Fraga, “this is a process”. And what will BTN'19 be in this process? «A drop of water, just a contribution, in a much bigger process and that will depend on the decision makers» regional and national.
At the Bienal, the 22nd will be dedicated to a cycle of debates and lectures, to which the organization invited «experts to come and present us, essentially, with certifications and awards».
Aura Fraga stresses that there is «a guest who can be very important, Luigi Cabrini», former director of the Sustainable Tourism Program of the World Tourism Organization and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, «body responsible for the accreditation of certifiers and answerable to the United Nations. We invited you and he accepted immediately, which for us was very important. He will be here throughout the event and has already shown interest in visiting some areas of the territory to get a feel for the reality».
Certifying entities were also invited, such as Biosphere, Europarc, Green Key, which «also has a vast work in the certification mainly of restaurants and accommodation and more recently of local accommodation». “We are going to try to understand how this works”, explains the president of Associação Vicentina.
“I feel that there is a certain distrust in relation to certifications. It is necessary to demystify this a bit. An example that caught our attention in a very positive way is the case of the Blue Flag, which is a success story of an award. Every year, the country announces how many beaches it has a blue flag and we all understand what that means». Blue Flag and Arouca Geopark are success stories to be presented at the Bienal.
Therefore, he stresses, “it might be interesting to extend this recognition to other activities”.
He emphasizes that «having certified accommodation is perhaps not very important, but if a municipality has 70% of its accommodation certified, this can already be an important factor in people's choice».
In addition to the workshops and debates, there will also be a very institutional exhibition component – with the municipalities, the RTA, the CCDRA, which will show “the work that is already being done by all these entities, mainly in the field of sustainability”.
But companies were also invited to present «sustainable solutions: some examples of equipment, or certifications, or interventions and adaptations, services that these companies provide and that can be useful for those who have a business in this area to adapt to some indicators of sustainability»
The issue of accessibility will also not be forgotten, which incidentally also motivates one of the lectures and debates. «Accessibility is starting to be on the agenda of entities, namely Turismo de Portugal, but, in practice, when we talk to responsible entities, they always tell us that there is still a lot of work to be done in this area». Therefore, stresses Aura Fraga, «we also tried to bring exhibitors who have solutions in this area of accessibility: special chairs so that people with reduced mobility can take a tour, for example».
There will also be «solutions in terms of energy, water» and even some concrete examples, such as «an accommodation that is completely autonomous from the point of view of energy and water management, with water reuse from one activity to another and even for the agriculture. We thought it was an interesting example and we invited you to be present».
As an «event of reflection and search for solutions», Aura Fraga invites «those operating in these areas of nature tourism to go there and discover new things, improve their knowledge of activities, make contacts, participate in B2B meetings, where partnerships can be made».
And then there's the party. Animation is important in a Biennial of Nature Tourism, which has everything to do with the territory in which it operates and which uses its potential in a sustainable way.
«We are always looking for entertainment to be linked to the territory's identity», so there will be food and music. On the 22nd, for example, the evening (21:00) includes a concert by the Moçoilas, which guarantees good music and lots of entertainment.
Click here to learn about BTN'19 Program
Click here to sign up for the Workshops
Click here to listen to the full interview
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