Workshop: DEVELOPING THE BALTIC SEA INTO A SUSTAINABLE BOATING DESTINATION: STRATEGY IN THE MAKING.

Despite high class infrastructure and an attractive destination profile of diverse nature & culture experiences, Baltic Sea still lags behind international competitors (in particular: the Mediterranean Sea) in terms of visibility and tapping economic potentials of leisure boating. Having noted that, a strategic cooperation at BSR level have been set up within BaltSusBoating 2030 Project, funded by Interreg BSR Programme. It aims at developing the Baltic Sea into a single & sustainable boating destination, and to jointly promoting it at international markets.

An important part of the above mentioned initiative is the focus on sustainability as a potential competitive edge of the Baltic Sea Region over the other boating regions in the world. In order to reach a good, coherent and long-term perspective that would lead into a strategy for the whole Baltic Sea, a broad and cross-sector discussion on the topic is needed. It is also vital to involve administration at various levels in the whole process, with particular focus on small cities/municipalities as in many cases they activities/decisions have huge impact on marina development.

In the workshop the participants will initiate an intensive cross-border peer learning and co-creation process to jointly develop new approaches that combine pre-work and experiences from different parts of the Baltic Sea region regarding the development of the common strategy/Action Plan for THE BALTIC SEA AS SUSTAINABLE BOATING DESTINATION. The discussion will focus on possible cross-border activities, joint marketing and the role of cities/municipalities in supporting sustainability activities i.a. in marinas and recreational boating in general.

Moreover, we will discuss “marketing narratives”, focused on developing sustainable destinations to attract different kinds of visitors to the marinas, which would aim at increasing their economic and social potential.

Additionally, we would seek contribution from the youth in a search for possible ideas on financing and promoting sustainability as a long-term scenario for marina development and boating in the Baltic Sea.