dossier sur le tourisme et le développement durable

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Political scope
4.2. Necessity for an enabling framework at national level
Implementing local approaches requires the presence of an appropriate context at a national
level i.e., legislation, investment policies, a clearly established legal framework, an effective
decentralization, a successful participation process…. There has to be coherence between the
State and the local authorities in order to back up and to support territorial projects emergence.
The State has to play a facilitator role at local level by enabling the partners to work together
and to agree on the major themes.
An enabling framework means different political measures concerning regional development at
a national scale, investment and relocation aid and incentive policies. It also implies to set up a
system of equalisation among regions in order to reduce disparities between the territories and
to balance the development process. All the master plans for regional development such as
urban planning, land use management, transport plans should be complementary and articulate
in a coherent way. Therefore, the notion of public subsidiarity is unavoidable.
Subsidiarity is the principle of sharing the tasks between the State and the civil society: each
time an association of individuals or groups is sufficient to accomplish a specific task, it should
be preferred to direct State intervention. Unlike the notion of decentralization, subsidiarity does
not concern the organisation of power among the institutions, it calls for action and aims at
improving what already exists with the available resources, as well as at strengthening
capacities. It forces to answer several questions: Which resources? What types of use? What
improvements and which objectives? Which partners and which sectors need to be mobilised?
Subsidiarity is an essential condition for the designing of a national enabling framework. It is
inseparable from network practices striving for the general interest, and from the creation of
partnerships working in an effort for sharing and pooling knowledge and competences.
4.3. Mediterranean co-operation in the field of tourism
Compared to other areas such as water management, Mediterranean co-operation is still little
developed in the tourism sector. There is no joint organisation and exchanges generally only
take place for specific projects and limited periods of time, for example on the occasion of
projects financed by the European Union or other international organisations.
Up to now, several factors have hindered this co-operation:
• Weak public policies for tourism,
• Strong competition between destinations and States with similar tourism products,
• The existence of other co-operation stages for the States (European Union) that may function as a
centrifugal force when faced with the tourism protagonists determination to group together,
• The persistence of geo-political tensions, especially in the Near-East.
Yet, real need for joint organisation can be felt and Mediterranean tourism co-operation has
some basic texts. MED 21 Agenda of 1994 recommends co-operation in education and
professional training, tourists awareness, development of new products and technologies that
reduce the impacts of tourism on the environment. It requests to establish a “Mediterranean
Tourism Chart” and to implement a Mediterranean Tourism Network. The Mediterranean
Tourism Chart adopted in Casablanca on 22 nd September 1995 insists on the need for such a
network, designed as an instrument for co-operation. One of its objectives would be the
implementing of a Mediterranean Label of authenticity and quality as well as the organisation of
periodical meetings of the Ministers of tourism.
Adopted on 19 th April 1997 in the Balearic Isles, the Declaration of Calvià on tourism and
sustainable development in the Mediterranean reaffirms in chapter VII the necessity for this cooperation
and called on the European Union to develop and support it.
The MCSD, in its recommendations and proposals for action adopted in October 1999, asks the
Mediterranean Action Plan and the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention to