Rural and remote areas across Europe are rich in cultural and natural assets, yet they face persistent structural challenges. The European Commission’s Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas highlights the urgent need to diversify economic activity beyond traditional sectors such as agriculture, farming, and forestry. Unlocking new drivers of growth is essential for strengthening resilience and stimulating sustainable economic development. Building on this vision, TOURAL promotes cultural and creative tourism as key drivers of sustainable development, fully aligned with the EC Tourism Transition Pathway. The project advances smart, multi-destination and multi-dimensional tourism models, strengthened by macro-regional cooperation and integrated local value chains. TOURAL introduces an innovative model to support tourism development in rural regions, ensuring balanced growth between urban clusters and the untapped potential of remote and rural areas.

• Multi-dimensional, integrating complementary tourism verticals:
  • Underwater Cultural & Nature Heritage Tourism
  • Cultural & Creative Tourism
  • Cultural Science Tourism
  • Silver Tourism
• Participatory, co-designing policy pathways, tourism services and business models through Living Labs and stakeholder engagement
• Integrated, promoting joint planning, cross-border cooperation, and value-chain development at macro-regional level

The project operates in six pilot regions, spanning:

• The Adriatic–Ionian macro-region (Italy, Croatia, Greece)
• The Black Sea Basin (Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine)