« Greening the Cruise and Recreational Boating sectors in the Mediterranean »

1. Context and objectives of the conference
Maritime transport represents one of the most important activities of the blue economy for the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean represents 27% of global maritime traffic and hosts 10% of the world’s cruises. The growth of the cruise sector is particularly strong: it is the most important sector of the tourism economy in terms of gross value added and job creation. Cruises in the Mediterranean increased by 8% between 2017 and 2018, for a total of more than 4 million passengers. The Mediterranean is the first destination area for European cruise passengers, and the second largest market in the world (Plan Bleu, 2021). The Mediterranean Sea is also a popular destination for recreational boating. Most of the recreational boats that circulate in the Mediterranean are less than 24 meters long, but the number of large yachts is increasing, in line with global trends. A large proportion of the world’s
mega-yachts (around 70%) sail in the Mediterranean year-round, with marinas generally close to full occupancy of their capacity, especially in EU-Western Mediterranean countries and in high season. As a source of employment and dynamism in the region, the recreational boating and cruising sectors also have significant environmental impacts (e.g. emissions of gases and fine particles, impact on marine fauna and flora, noise and light pollution).
To encourage and support the transition of these two sectors towards environmental and social sustainability, PSAMIDES Project and the Interreg Med Blue Growth Community have decided to organize together a capitalization event to highlight key recommendations and to showcase some concrete solutions developed within the framework of these projects.

2. Expected outputs
● Official release and dissemination of the Guidelines for Sustainable Cruise and Yachting in the Mediterranean Region developed by the Mediterranean Blue Growth Community in partnership with Sustainable Tourism Community and Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection community
● Sharing of best practices and tools developed by PSAMIDES project and others to improve the sustainability of cruising and recreational boating sectors in the Mediterranean

POINTS DE REPÈRE

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