Due Mari Final Conference held on November 30th

On November 30th, 2023, the final conference of the Due Mari project was held in the CUE hotel in Podgorica (Montenegro). The leading partner, also the organizer of this event, was the Ministry of Tourism, Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Region Development, with the participation from other project partners (Ministry of Tourism and the Environment of Albania, the Region of Puglia - the Department for Tourism, the Economy of Culture and the Valorisation of the Territory, the Region of Molise, InnovaPuglia, the National Tourism Organization of Montenegro).

The conference was followed by 71 participants, of which 17 via the online platform, considering that the conference was a hybrid event. The conference was attended by representatives of various entities from the local and state level.

The conference was opened by Ms. Maja Kovačević, project leader in front of the Ministry of Tourism, Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Region Development. On behalf of the Interreg Programme, the attendees were addressed by Mr. Davide Marcianò (in front of the Joint Secretariat of the Intereg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro program) and Ms. Irena Bošković (head of the Ministry of European Affairs of Montenegro responsible for inter-regional programs and macro-regional cooperation) who reflected at the last Programme period, the project, and its results, and announced new calls. Both expressed their satisfaction with the successful cooperation on the Due Mari project, and Mr. Marciano announced the capitalization of the results through the next period.

Mr. Nikola Tomašević, Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Ecology, Sustainable Development and Development of the North (MNE), Ms. Anna Introna on behalf of the Puglia Region, Mr. Elton Nino on behalf of the Albanian Ministry, and Ms. Emilia Vitullo in the name of Molise Region welcomed those present on behalf of the program territories and pointed out the significance of the project and successful cross-border cooperation achieved through the efforts of all partners.

Mr. Domenico Morgese from Innova Puglia presented the Due Mari platform, as one of the main results of the project, and in addition, all partners shared a brief overview of the challenges in the work on collecting and processing the data gathering for the platform. Ms. Svetlana Tomković, project manager from the National Touristic Organisation of Montenegro, presented the new website of her institution, which was also funded from this project and is available in 7 language variants, and is expected to be in Chinese soon. On behalf of the leading partner, Ms. Ivana Ostoić, external technical support for the Montenegrin Ministry, spoke about digitization in tourism, and activities within this project regarding next generation of tourism development.

An important part of the project is represented by the so-called pilot activity, so prof. Radoslav Tomović of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Montenegro pointed out the challenges of making the replica of the first printing machine in the Balkans - the printing presses of Đurađ Crnojević. The press, together with other furniture, was donated to the National Museum of Montenegro, and installed in Njegoš's museum - Biljarda on Cetinje. The representative of the National Museum, Mr. Ivan Mijanović, thanked for the donation, saying that since the installation of the press, they have recorded an increased number of visits, and that an upgrade of the project is planned. Both expressed their gratitude for the excellent cooperation with the Due Mari team of this Ministry and their satisfaction that the project was successfully implemented.

The conference ended with a review of the leading challenges in the realization of the project. Ms Tamara Đukić, as representative of the lead partner, concluded the Conference.

Among the biggest challenges, while implementation of this project, were recognized institutional changes in the program countries that slowed down the procedures, as well as procedures according to PRAG rules, with which domestic companies are less familiar with. Another notable challenge was field data gathering for the project platform, which was lengthy process dependant on weather conditions.

The emphasis of the final project conference was on the main outputs of the project. The main and most important activity of this project was the creation of a joint virtual online platform through which a virtual tourist routes were created for the entire program area - Montenegro, Albania, and the two Italian regions of Puglia and Molise. The three pilot projects, one from each country were also an important contribution to the sustainability and elevation of touristic offer in the Programme territories. In the scope of the project there were created two important documents - Common strategy and action plan and Policy paper for future use of digital technologies in promotion of sustainable tourism. Due Mari "Route it" catalogue was also and important contribution to the touristic promotion of Italy, Albania and Montenegro.