Ecomel

The choice of implementing this project in Tunisia has multiple reasons: 1. Generally in the country there is Off-season visitors number, promotion helps increase the number of visitors while gaining more tourism business and profits. 2. Build-up an area for physical interventions (The Snorkeling trail) with all the required facilities for a high quality experience 3. In order to respond to the different region challenges, a new product will be established as a sustainable tourism package focusing on developing, managing, and promoting the Tunisia rural and ecotourism sector. 4. The aim of creating this project is to empower the communities in remote areas and raise awareness of people from the grassroots level about the sustainable use of the natural resources while providing a high quality unique experience for visitors and enhancing their incomes. 5. Lack of promotion of the ecotourism in the Tunisian destination and attractivety to the yoga practitioners as a result we need to domestically and internationally market and promote the Tunisian destination as a major global tourism destination, highlighting the uniqueness and assisting the development of its tourism products and services, with the end in view of increasing tourist arrivals and tourism investment using the community based rural tourism web page. The Yoga Retreat Experience: A project developed with the support of Legacy International and U.S. Department of State the Association Pinna APDPE in collaboration with Projet ECOMEL. The project aimed to transform the northwestern region of Tabarka into a ecotourism destination by creating a yoga environment focused not only on yoga workshops, but ecotourism activities such as responsible snorkeling, environmental education and the promotion of the local businesses and cultural aspects The Northwest region of Tunisia hosted from August 26 to 29 an eco-tourism workshop on the theme Eco-tourism driving sustainability”. The Pinna APDPE Association organised the workshop as part of its project ECOMEL funded by the PPI-OSCAN stemming from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCNmed). The PPI-OSCAN is a regional initiative for the strengthening of the Civil Society in North Africa, which helps young associations to get involved in new challenges related to the environment and sustainable development through innovative projects in the region. The first edition of this workshop held as part of the year 2017 as International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, was organised under the auspices of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with the support of the MAVA Foundation for Nature and the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM). “The role of eco-tourism in the sustainable development of Tunisia’s northwestern region” is the theme of the event. The workshop gathered tourism professionals, representatives of national and local governments, associations, tour operators, local and foreign media for whom the development of ecological tourism is both possible and desirable. The workshop aimed to support Tunisian young democracy in its efforts to develop eco-tourism in the northwestern region of the country leading to the establishment of a roadmap aimed at mobilising local and national organisations and structures of the country. Some of the workshop’s objectives are to give visibility to the destination Northwest Tunisia and more particularly to the destinations of the main cities of Jendouba namely Tabarka, Ain Drahem, and Ghar Dimaou. It also aims to encourage meetings between Tunisian organisations concerned by eco-tourism in order to contribute to the national structuring of the ecological tourism sector. - Melloula trail has a strategy for sustainable tourism development.   - The first underwater trail of Tunisia is created. -   12 people trained in underwater trail management.   - The National Underwater Photo Competition 2016 was held.  - A partnership agreement between the site manager and a local diving club is signed for the scientific monitoring and management of underwater trail.   - Awareness campaigns and cleaning were organized with youth and families. -   Evolution of national regulations, with the addition of underwater trails, which should in future facilitate their development on other sites. Our next step is the creation of a community based ecotourism entreprise ,The aims of this intiative is to create a sustainable rural and ecotourism destination in Tunisia,in the remote areas with high potential for nature tourism experience from the north to the south by creating a plateform of rural stakeholders with the most promising potential and offering a high quality authentic experience including the following : Fisherman, Olive grove, Artisanal Cheesmakers,Handicraft and homemades products salers,culinary food and cuisine providers. The identified stakeholders will benefit of a support for their product development including marketting and benchmarking.This project will impact approximately 20 individuals and local businesses and service providers and help them to access to the tourism value chain but also incresae their awareness about the sustainable use of the natural resources and its conservation for the future generation.