Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1496971
9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 APRIL 2023 Interreg Europe (DETOCS) project aims to support recovery of tourism sectors post pandemic THE EU must decarbonise its economy by 2050 out of neces- sity for climate change mitiga- tion and adaptation. In parallel, the EU requires to increase its energy security, self-sufficiency and competitiveness, with the current energy crisis further exacerbating the situation, and the prices of fuels and electric- ity increasingly threatening the viability and profitability of Eu- rope's tourism infrastructure. Furthermore, as a direct re- sult of the Covid-19 pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns and travel restrictions, Europe's tourism infrastructure has seri- ously declined – a situation now further exacerbated due to the severe energy crisis. The recovery of the tourism sector is necessary and crucial, now more than ever in its vul- nerable state, as the tourism in- dustry is highly valuable to the European economy. The recently approved Inter- reg Europe DETOCS – DEcar- bonising the TOurism Industry Post Covid-19 Support – pro- ject therefore aims to support the recovery of EU tourism in- frastructure sector following the Covid-19 pandemic, amidst the energy crisis, in a sustaina- ble and low carbon way. In do- ing so, DETOCS complies with EU long-term policies for the decarbonisation of the econo- my. During the project implemen- tation, good practices for sus- tainable tourism will be iden- tified and exchanged amongst partner regions in Slovenia, Greece, Malta, Finland, Ita- ly, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Netherlands; meanwhile, pro- ject partners will aim to improve related policy in their regions through capacity building in the participating regions and the adoption of policies proven to be successful in other regions. The DETOCS project aims are, in each of the partner re- gions, to: A) Facilitate the decar- bonisation of the tourism infra- structure; B) Increase the energy ef- ficiency of tourism infrastruc- ture; C) Increase the energy self-sufficiency of tourism sec- tor; D) Promote new and nov- el types of tourism, which have low energy consumption and carbon footprint (i.e., "virtual tourism"); E) Assist regions to cope with the current energy crisis that increases the share of ener- gy cost in their total operational cost threatening their profita- bility and economic viability. DETOCS contributes to EU Cohesion Policy, and specifi- cally to the "Policy Objective 2 (PO2): A greener, low-carbon Europe", as it promotes clean and sustainable energy tran- sition of tourism infrastruc- ture. In order to promote the achievement of a climate-neu- tral Europe by 2050, the tar- geted polices will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emis- sions through new investments in energy efficiency, ener- gy-saving schemes and sustain- able renewable energy as set in Directive (EU) 2018/2001. The four-year DETOCS project has a total budget of € 1,980,883.00, with € 1,567,416.40 provided by the European Regional Develop- ment Fund (ERDF). The Institute for Sustainable Energy of the University of Mal- ta together with the Ministry for Tourism are participating in this project as full partners. In the coming weeks, a reach out will be initiated to form a national stakeholders group composed of all relevant en- tities that are directly or indi- rectly involved in the Tourism Industry in Malta. The stake- holders group will be continu- ously informed and involved in the project, which also includes participation in local and inter- national workshops and visits. The ultimate goal is to share the good practices that Malta has so far succeeded in imple- menting and to learn from oth- er regions on how energy effi- ciency can be further enhanced to offset the cost of energy and to facilitate a long-term sustain- able and decarbonised future for the tourism industry in Mal- ta. The kick-off meeting of the project will be held in Slovenia in May 2023. The DETOCS project con- sortium consists of 13 project partners and 1 advisory part- ner from 9 different Europe- an countries, namely Slovenia (Lead Partner), Greece, Malta, Finland, Italy, Bulgaria, Hunga- ry and Germany (Advisor Part- ner).