EU-Project

Project kickoff: People over Tourism

New EU project launches to promote people-centred and balanced tourism

Just in time for Oktoberfest season, agado is launching a new European project addressing an issue that is particularly visible in Munich at the moment: overtourism. At the project kick-off meeting, the partners of PEOPLE OVER TOURISM: community-centred solutions to address overtourism in living places came together to launch their joint work for the next two years.

Tourism can bring important social, cultural and economic benefits. However, when too many visitors are concentrated in a small number of places, housing, natural resources, ecosystems and the lives of local communities can come under increasing pressure. At the same time, many smaller towns and less-visited regions remain largely outside the main tourism flows.

This is where PEOPLE OVER TOURISM comes in: together, we want to develop new approaches to more balanced and regenerative tourism. The people and communities who live in these places are at the heart of the project. Rather than simply turning less-visited regions into new tourist destinations, the project aims to make them attractive, authentic and meaningful places to visit and experience. Inspired by the New European Bauhaus, the project brings together sustainability, cultural identity, aesthetics and social participation.

Over the next two years, agado and its European partners will work to strengthen skills, actively involve older people and empower local learning centres. Together, they will develop practical tools, educational resources and recommendations for municipalities, museums, libraries, NGOs and tourism organisations. A particular focus will be placed on local food traditions, agroecology, agrotourism and creative approaches to exploring and experiencing local places.

The project partners are LOV – Labor Omnia Vincit Società tra Professionisti a Responsabilità Limitata, Associação Intercultural Amigos da Mobilidade, Asociación Plan de Acción Global para la Tierra (GAP España), Elderberry AB, Communauté de communes du Sud-Corse and Soc Blended Learning Limited.

We look forward to two years of exchange, collaboration and new ideas – and to working together to shape tourism around the needs of the people who live in these places.