Rural tourism promotion system in the Italian-Slovenian Karst
The project proposes the enhancement of tourism supply organized and coordinated at cross-border level, in order to exploit the primary and environmental resources typical of the Karst area. This intervention aims at defining, enhancing and promoting the environmental resources and their tourist, cultural and economic purposes in the crossborder area of the Karst and of Trieste gulf. Extremely interesting geological, environmental and cultural features concentrate in this territory, where the Karst provides a unique environmental system which has no equal in Europe. The meeting between the Karst and the Adriatic sea has brought about the most spectacular landscape as well as interesting and unusual cultural and food-and-wine traditions. This project proposes the enhancement of the Karst plateau as a valuable resource in an integrated vision that ensures natural contiguity at cross-border level. The central elements of this strategy are the economic activities connected with rural tourism and the emerging phenomenon of fish tourism, which match the main features of the local economic development, whilst preserving and enhancing its territory, environment, culture and traditions. Finally, the need for a consistent promotional strategy is emphasized. Although there are several Internet sites that ensure an effective promotion of products or individual territories in the area, there is an overall information promotion deficit with regard to tourist packages enhancing and marketing all historical, cultural and ethnological resources, the sport and recreational opportunities, the naturalistic aspects, wine and food products. For these reasons, a portal devoted to Karst tourism and the creation of integrated tourist packages is going to be set up.