Sustainable tourism
We live in paradise. Mountain, sea, scattered islets, beaches for every taste, from organized to completely natural or unknown. Wetlands, volcanoes, thermal baths, paths, Lemonodasos with its watering channels, Devil’s Gorge. Archaeological sites, monasteries, churches, an open theater at Methana, wonderful architecture, the Hatzopoulios Municipal Library of Poros with its rich collection, folk museums in Troizina and Poros. Nature mountain and sea activities, food and wine tasting, concerts, performances, cooking, crafts, creative writing, paintings lessons. Local products from the fertile land, superb food and pastry, accommodation for all tastes and pockets, yachting and glamping. Sustainable tourism, which respects people, the environment and culture, is ideal for this blessed place.
This is the belief of Ec(h)o, the local team of Project Resound, a social design organization, which uses its creative skills to bring a positive change in the world. Echo is a consortium of three entities (Katheti, Live-Bio and Odyssey) with the aim of promoting sustainable tourism in the areas of Poros, Troizinia and Methana.
We believe that sustainable tourism brings bigger advantages to the local communities: economical, environmental and cultural. The first step towards achieving our objective is a collaboration with Project Resound America in creating branding and communication strategy for promoting the area as a sustainable tourism destination.
Ec(h)o & Project Resound
This collaboration is already 1.5 years old, and in this period, some very important goals have been achieved:
- The support of the two municipalities, of Poros and of Troizinia-Methana, which are the main beneficiaries of the project, has been ensured.
- A local unofficial team has been created, consortium Ec(h)o, with Katheti, Live-Bio and Odyssey as its initial member.
- A research aiming to map the activities, needs and potential of the area when it comes to sustainable tourism.
For the purposes of the research, 23 people, mostly locals, who operate in relevant fields have been interviewed using semi-structured, in-depth interviews. To those who couldn’t participate in the interviews, questionnaires with open- and closed-ended questions were sent, to which an additional 11 people responded. Also, a research as to the habits, views and beliefs of travelers when it comes to sustainable tourism. For this purpose, questionnaires with open- and closed-ended questions were sent to a targeted group, of which, 74 responses were received. At the moment, the research is in the data analysis stage.
The highlight of Project Resound Greece will be two weekly workshops in the summer of 2021, in which designers from all over the world will participate pro bono, with the aim to create branding communication strategy for promoting our two municipalities as sustainable tourism destinations! However, this event will only be the beginning for Ec(h)o’s work.
Our intention is to support local professionals as well as the municipalities, so that our area will capitalize to the maximum extent this work. Especially now, that plans for establishing an Area of Organized Development of Aquaculture in a large stretch of Poros’s land and sea foreshadow a bleak future for the environment of the whole area.
