The South Baltic Area is characterized by the presence of unique cultural and environmental features, including a number of UNESCO World Heritage sites, the sea, lakes, sandy beaches, islands and large forest complexes. These features determine the huge tourist potential of the region.
The geographical and climatic situation of the South Baltic area necessitates emphasising the development of tourist offers such as historical tourism, religious tourism, culinary tourism, adventure tourism including activities such as fishing, sailing, cycling, hiking, cultural and cross-border sports events. Lack of large-scale tourist-oriented resort infrastructure, typical of coastal areas in warmer parts of the continent, is countered by prevalence of relatively unspoiled nature areas, including forests, hills, lakes, rivers, beaches and islands.
Reinforcing and improving natural environment conditions, together with promotion of the cultural aspects and image of the region as a place of natural beauty and tranquility, is a way to achieving a competitive but sustainable tourism in the region. Sweden and Denmark in particular are considered world-class in implementing environmentally sustainable solutions.
What is more, it should be noted that COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill, and tourism and culture sectors were two of the worst affected of all major economic sectors. In this regard, the 2nd Priority Axis: Sustainable Tourism, has an important social dimension. Its aim is not only to activate the tourist and cultural potential of SBA but also to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic in regards to especially labour market.
There is one Programme Measure in the ISBP 2021-2027 that constitute Priority 3; Developing sustainable, resilient, and innovative tourism.
- Programme Measure 3.1; Developing sustainable, resilient and innovative tourism. The blue and green character, together with shared cultural heritage in the region are some of the key advantages in terms of developing the tourism sector. Due to demographic change and urbanisation sectors such as culture and creative industries, recreational services and other types of jobs in the tourism sector has become even more important in rural or remote places. As one of the key sectors in SBA, tourism is a source of employment and incomes for local communities The actions under this Measure will focus on the improvement of the tourist and cultural offers in the SBA and taking obvious advantage of the geographical location. Furthermore, this Measure will have a significant social dimension as it will not only positively affect the quality of life of inhabitants and quality of time spent by tourists (in the SBA), but also contribute (directly or indirectly) to the mitigation of negative effects of pandemic situation.
As part of the 4th Seed Money Call of ISBP 2014-2020, two projects have been selected under Specific Objective 2.1; Sustainable Tourism, and they have the ambition to apply for the Priority 3 in the ISBP 2021-2027, Attractive South Baltic, they are: BeLIVE and South Baltic Horse Tourism.
- BeLIVE: The aim of the future regular project is to strengthen the cohesion of the macro-region with the use of cultural heritage aimed at the sustainable development of the regions and to facilitate access to its knowledge.
- South Baltic Horse Tourism: The project aims at development of the comprehensive the South Baltic area horse tourism offer engaging SMEs providing services in horse tourism.
