Setting tourist routes towards a greener horizon
The maritime tourism sector
is a driving force for regional
development, especially in the
Adriatic–Ionian regions. Tourist ports
represent important attractive gates
to the regions, and they are often
characterized by high aesthetic,
natural and historical value. Their
economic benefi ts are based on the
scenery of the surrounding coastal
area, on their environmental quality
and on the capacity of the ports
to create green routes to satisfy a
"sustainable" and "inclusive" tourism
demand.
In the small port network the AI
SMART Project is a strategic proposal
financed by the Interreg V-AGreece–Italy Programme 2014-2020. AI SMART aims to implement a
common port network in the Adriatic
Ionian area that connects, through
an ICT Platform, all touristic ports of
the Apulia Region in Italy and those
operating alongside three Greek
regions: the Ionian Island region, the
Region of Western Greece and the
Epirus region. The ports will share
in common their facilities and their
services in a transnational network
based on the concept of smart, green
and sustainable ports, exploiting the
short-sea routes as an alternative
to the cruise routes, to promote
sustainable tourism. The AI SMART
ports, through efficient connections
with rail and inland transport
networks, will act as key-hubs from
which, access to inland territories,
can be facilitated to discover their
natural and cultural heritage
The Project is led by the Department
of Mobility, Urban Quality, Public
Works, Ecology and Landscape of
the Apulia Region. The idea behind
this project – said the Head of
Department, Eng. Barbara Valenzano
- is that our territories deserve
the development and setting up of
short-sea routes towards a greener
horizon: the Apulia Region has more
than 400 km of coastline and more
than 100 ports operate along the
Adriatic coast. From the Gargano to
the Salento, many ports and resorts
have been awarded the Blue Flag
certifi cation in recognition of the
beauty of their coastline, their clean
water, and the large assortment of
services they offer to tourists. Our
idea is to develop the AI SMART
network as part of an integrated and
sustainable transport system that can
boost some of the TEN-T Corridors, getting through southern European
territories, such as Apulia Region in
southern Italy, Albania, Montenegro
and Greece, as is the case in the
Corridor VIII.
The project will create an ICT
platform that can become the
"virtual common environment" for
increasing the capacity of local
authorities and decision-makers
to identify, manage and provide
prompt solutions to day-to-day
problems faced by small ports,
starting from the identifi cation of
resources (human and financial)
for infrastructural and noninfrastructural
interventions, to
the continuous monitoring of the
impact of environmental stressors
as required by Environmental
Management System – declared the
Project Manager, Dr. Matilda Mali.
The collection of this data will be the
fi rst step for defining a transnational
governing tool and to promote a
continuous and quite automatic
updating of the Port Environmental
Policy – said prof. Umberto Fratino
of Polytechnic University of Bari, one
of the research body involved in AI
SMART Monitoring Activities.
In a similar context - Eng. Valenzano
added - we also focus on other
projects, which the Apulia Region is
leading together with an international
partnership financed by different
Cross-border Cooperation Programs,
i.e the ALMONIT project within Italy-
Montenegro-Albania Program, the
MARLESS Project and the CASCADE
Project within the Italy-Croatia
Program.
