CECOP-CICOPA Europe: The interactive guide of the European route of cooperatives launched today
An approach based on passive touristic consumption and the unsustainable exploitation of many destinations has showed its limits and negative effects. As a consequence, a growing range of more responsible and sustainable experiences are being offered to tourists including, for instance, the promotion of local industrial and cultural heritage. Several cooperatives all around Europe are offering a sustainable and innovative tourism experience, while spreading their values and business model based on democracy and solidarity. To compile and spread all those realities, the new interactive guide of Cooproute, the European route of cooperative culture, has been launched today.
This interactive itinerary has just been unveiled in an event hosted by the Emilia- Romagna Region in Bologna (Italy) where the tourism potential of cooperatives, which contribute to promoting cooperative culture and values have been discussed among different stakeholders. This already includes, for example, a worker cooperative in Spain recycling and organising bike tours, another in Malta running the Rural Heritage Trail, a social cooperative in Italy managing tourist areas that integrate disadvantaged groups, not to forget the museums dedicated to the cooperative legacy. The guide is a dynamic tool allowing people to discover and visit destinations which provide a learning cooperative experience.
