Sustainable Nature-Based Tourism through Tourism Social Entrepreneurship

The project will create 3 knowledge and networking hubs to foster nature-based tourism models as drivers for social, cultural and economic development. It will cover Odsherred in West-Zealand (Denmark) and the wider Oder Delta region, spanning parts of Mecklenburg West-Pomerania (Germany) and the West Pomerania Voivodeship (Poland). Both regions have an abundance of yet undiscovered nature tourism destinations. Cross-border collaboration will promote near tourism across the South Baltic region.
Nature-based tourism, focusing on outdoor recreation experiences and activities, seeks to counter the erosion of environmental and social resources. It can support community development and engagement as it connects to cultural heritage, create employment and attract other sustainable business. However, in both regions investment is needed to train and attract skilled labour and to raise awareness of the value of nature vs. intensive agriculture. However, nature-based tourism can meet local resistance and lacks management infrastructure. Contradictory interests may pitch nature conservation against industry.
This highlights a complex dilemma, which the future regular project will seek to address by coupling nature-based sustainable tourism and principles of social entrepreneurship. This approach emphasizes the need to strengthen local entrepreneurship as a means to develop new forms of businesses with a plural ecological, social, cultural and economic value-building purpose.
In each country, hubs for nature-based tourism and social entrepreneurship will be part of the full project consortium to showcase entrepreneurial innovation and act as information and capacity-building focal points. They will target public agencies, civil society, local start-ups and businesses with a sustainability agenda, to build up expertise in creating value through well-managed nature-based tourism; they will learn from each other and create a network of collaborators across the South Baltic.