On 13 April 2018, Bari (Italy) held a conference “Sustainable tourism connected to the integrated system of thematic routes in a macro-regional framework”. The event was one of the several events organized during the Italian Presidency of the EUSAIR Strategy and the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, promoting “Sustainable Tourism” – the 4th thematic priority of the EUSAIR Strategy.

The conference was promoted by the Italian Department for Tourism and Culture, with the support of the Territory of Puglia Region and the Marche Region, the Italian EUSAIR Facility Point project partner and deepen the discussions on thematic itineraries system (with greater emphasis on those based on tangible and intangible cultural heritage) with highlighting the cultural routes already recognized with the certification of the Council of Europe and exposing the idea of building new cultural routes upon natural, cultural, spiritual, historical-archaeological and local identity elements.

During the conference the existing routes have been presented, compared and evaluated, taking into account the national and regional strategies on sustainable tourism that identify priorities and common actions in connection to the EUSAIR Action Plan.

The event was attended by more than 50 people interested in the exchange of good practices and new perspectives on the thematic routes systems. The framework of a roundtable offered examples of already existing cultural routes such as Routes of the Olive Tree, the Phoenician’s Route and the  vie Francigena route.

The event concluded with a networking lunch where participants had occasion to exchange ideas on how to move forward.