Within the project OPEN TOURISM PLUS – Increase cross-border cooperation strategies on water landscapes, an Incoming mission & B2b meeting on “Culture Itinerary” will be organised on 11 May 2023 in  Albania (Tirana, Durres, Berat).  The initiative aims to enhance the OPEN TOURISM model, a tourist information and welcome service consisting of a territorial network of information points and managed through a Circuit of local operators. 
The activity is mainly targeted at operators involved in cultural assets. It takes place in the cities of Tirana, Durres, Berat. The event will be attended by around 40 public and private stakeholders in the tourism sector coming from Italy, Albania and Montenegro, environmental and cultural operators, as well as cultural managers part of the sectorial association “Albanian Organization of Tourism Enterprises”.  
The general objective of OPEN TOURISM PLUS is to test, validate and spread OPEN TOURISM output and results through a set of technical meetings with public and private operators of the environmental, cultural and tourist welcoming sectors. Meetings will allow to focus on and valorize: (i) the OT Service management model, (ii) OT Service tools at operators’ disposal, (iii) OT Service promotion strategy. 
During these technical meetings, results will be evaluated and validated valorizing the methodologies already used in OPEN TOURISM. The project is aligned with Pillar 4 of EUSAIR, Axis 2 of ADRION and other Interreg initiatives aimed at improving the quality and innovation of tourism offer, enhancing the sustainable and responsible tourism capacities of the tourism actors, diversifying tourism products and services along with tackling seasonality. 
Activities that will be implemented to reach capitalisation objectives and target groups are: 

1. Incoming missions & B2B meeting - Italy “Gastronomy Itinerary”. Target: operators involved with gastronomy products. 
2. Incoming missions & B2B meeting - Albania “Culture Itinerary”. Target: operators involved with cultural assets. 
3. Incoming missions & B2B - Montenegro “Sustainable tourism”. Target: operators involved in the tourism sector.
4. Incoming missions & B2B meeting - Italy “Experiential Tourism”. Target: artisans and artists.
5. Workshop - Montenegro “Potentialities of OT Service, its management model and responsible tourism”. Target: public & private stakeholders.
6. Workshop - Italy “Territorial marketing and Circuit’s promotion strategies”. Target: public & private stakeholders.

Incoming missions & B2B meetings will foresee an experiential moment (e.g. visiting some POIs), the presentation of project output and results, working groups for testing and validation of tools, and they will allow stakeholders to see and know the tourist itineraries of OT and all the connected tools (App, kit, brand, etc.). Workshops will give the opportunity to focus on specific contents and to identify ideas, tools and strategies to promote and spread the OT Service. 
Project main expected results:

• The OPEN TOURISM PLUS strategies and activities will contribute to the development of Common Action Plans for the smart management of tourist destinations in the Programme area 
• The improvement of tourism information quality and welcome service promoting products, services and governance of the OPEN TOURISM model. 
• Strengthening of the OPEN TOURISM cross-border public-private network, aimed at enhancing local cultural and natural heritage through the development of new tourism promotion strategies and actions. 

For those who are not currently within the OT Circuit, OPEN TOURISM PLUS will be an occasion to get in touch and get to know a new opportunity, and then evaluate the possibility of using it by formally joining the Circuit.

Download the agenda and the poster of the event.