As members of the CAST project (Creative Accelerator for Sustainable Tourism- www.castnetwork.eu), we have developed a case study publication to better understand how sustainable tourism is being developed in the European Union. We identified impactful practices, projects, initiatives, startups and programs to analyse their offers and solutions as the starting point to put together a guide for best practices.

The cases presented included efforts of cities to become “greener”, national projects that help develop innovative solutions, alternative activities that attract an audience in a sustainable way as well as disruptive startups with paradigm changing ideas. These cases were selected because they show good practices that can be of interest to replicate in different regions of Europe, to promote sustainability and disrupt tourism habits for the future.

The cases were divided into two categories:

1. Projects, companies and programmes that promote sustainable alternatives. In this category, public and private entities promoting the creation of ground-breaking solutions are showcased in seven case studies from four regions in Europe.
2. Cities and regions that want to become sustainable destinations. In this category, worldwide trends of sustainable living, economy and smart use of resources and technology for sustainability are showcased in eight case studies from six regions in Europe.

The case studies selected showed in their achievements, that not only traditional tourism schemes are changing, but that travellers are willing to take their own values and interests into consideration whenever they are picking their next destination.

As a result of the case study development and analysis, apart from the two categories identified, there are four parameters that can be considered as best practices for the tourism industry:

• the creation of sustainable solutions
• the redefinition of habits to become more sustainable
• the production of frameworks and guidelines
• the promotion of sustainable values within the different targets.

In addition to the analysis, several recommendations were made for the appropriation of the best practices that were identified from the case studies. These recommendations will be determinant to the development of the projects that will be part of CAST.

You can find the publication here.