Palma brings together the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion to address the tourism role of ports

The meeting in Palma reinforces the role of ports in managing tourist flows and promoting a more sustainable model.

The Director General of Ports and Maritime Transport, Toni Mercant; the Director of AETIB, Pere Joan Planas; the Secretary General of the Euroregion, Xavier Bernard-Sans; and the Managing Director of Ports de les Illes Balears (PortsIB), Kico Villalonga, led the working meeting of the Nautical Group of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, held this Wednesday, 29th of April, at the Regional Ministry of Tourism in Palma.

The Nautical Group brings together political representatives responsible for tourism and ports from the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Occitania, with the aim of promoting joint initiatives that contribute to a more sustainable and balanced tourism model.

In this regard, the meeting focused on one of the main shared initiatives: using ports to inform and guide visitors towards a more diverse range of tourism options, helping to reduce concentration in the most overcrowded areas. This proposal makes it possible to move towards a model that goes beyond sun-and-beach tourism, highlighting the culture, gastronomy and resources of the territory as a whole.

The meeting was attended by institutional and technical representatives from the territories that make up the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, including Catalonia and Occitania, as well as the Balearic Islands.

After the working session, the members of the group travelled to the Palma International Boat Show, where they took part in the institutional opening and made a joint visit to the boat show, holding meetings with key stakeholders in the sector.

The day’s programme will continue this afternoon with technical visits to two ports managed by the Balearic regional government, Port de Portals and Port d’Andratx, which already have integrated tourist information and guidance services. These visits will provide first-hand insight into experiences that could be replicated in other territories of the Euroregion.

This event forms part of the work of the Tourism Commission of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, a cooperation body between the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Occitania that promotes joint projects, many of them co-financed by the European Union, with a special focus on fostering more sustainable tourism.