date: 16.12.2020
The second Ukrainian workshop of the Tourism 4.0 for the Black Sea project was held online on Wednesday 16 December. It focused on a preliminary demonstration of the capabilities of the Tourism Impact Model (TIM) that is being developed by Arctur within the project. The meeting was hosted by the Department of Tourism of Odessa City Council which led the data collection exercise in concert with several municipal authorities in collaboration with the local partner NGO Agricola. Despite obstacles for communication and outreach during this covid period, it was still possible to provide information for about 95% of the nearly 300 data points. Over 30 people participated in the workshop from the European Commission, local government, research, media and business sectors. It revealed the range and quality of data needed to improve tourism planning in Odessa, and where certain gaps need to be addressed. Implementing the TIM is, moreover, an excellent means for tracking progress in meeting EU and UN sustainability criteria and thus eligibility for programmatic technical and funding support.