Between the 17th and 18th November, 5 Senses Malta attended the HOST project final partner meeting at the Fondazione Campus Studi del Mediterraneo in Lucca, Italy. The project was attended by all partners.
The project final meeting included a steering committee meeting to analyse the technical work packages which included presentations of the activities in each country with obtained results and main lessons learned. Project continuity after its end was also discussed. Day two included the attendance of a public event – the HOST Final Technical Conference which included topics such as achieved results in terms of transnationality and common promotional activities voiced by the involved territories and also the introduction of Rural and Sport Tourism to the Southern Region of Malta. Maurizio Goetz, one of the greatest Italian experts in tourism digital marketing, branding and innovative marketing consultant, was present at the event and delivered a lecture regarding the tourist experience design relation to HOST project activities. This was followed by an open discussion and the project was officially closed.
Maurizio Goetz is, lecturer in Media and Tourism at the IULM University and Web Tourism Marketing at Bicocca University, co-author of the volume Tourist Experience Design, creare offerte turistiche, published by Hoepli in September 2011, Experience design Strategist at Elba island.
The HOST project – Heritage of Olive Oil Tree for Sustainable Tourism – is an EU-funded project that took place across four Mediterranean territories in Malta, Italy, Slovenia and Greece, four countries who have all played an important role in the development of the olive oil industry. HOST project aims to restore economies in order to generate a positive impact on the population, and reinvigorate natural and cultural heritage.
This project is being co-financed by the COSME programme of the European Commission with an overall budget of €239,991 for a period of 18 months from June 2015. The project is led by Fondazione Campus in Italy and includes another five international partners including: Timesis srl, The Municipality of Koper, The Regional Development Centre Koper, ETAL S.A and 5 Senses Ltd. representing Malta.
Malta was always a key ingredient in the development of what we today regard as the Mediterranean diet specifically due to its prominent role in the production of olive oil. Since Roman times, olive oil production in Malta was a very lucrative business with large exports to neighbouring countries. The HOST project celebrated the olive oil trail and presented an ideal way to discover the history, culture, lifestyle and the deep, shared roots of the Mediterranean countries who chose to support a model of sustainable tourism that cares about respecting the local ecosystem and its traditional activities.
For more information, contact maria@5-sensesmalta.com or go to 5-sensesmalta.com.
