QualityCoast Programme: Pilot studies in two mature sun and beach destinations

Within the international regional cooperation activities of the Coastal Practice Network (CoPraNet), an INTERREG IIIC network project, the development of a transparent international quality programme for sustainable coastal tourism destinations – QualityCoast – has been achieved. QualityCoast Programme for coastal tourism destinations certifies a municipality, county or region that proves to be actively working towards more responsible and sustainable management. The implementation of the QualityCoast Programme is determined using a series of QualityCoast Milestones (QCMs), which indicate the quality of information available to visitors. The QCMs are grouped into the thematic areas of nature, carrying capacity, water and environmental quality and socioeconomics. A category entitled ‘other' is also incorporated to allow the inclusion of criteria relevant to particular areas, which are not covered by the four primary themes. This paper presents the QualityCoast Programme, one of the key contributions and results of the CoPraNet project and, in particular, the results of pilot activities undertaken in different areas of Fuerteventura Island, Canary Islands and in Calvià Municipality, Balearic Islands, both mature sun and beach destinations in Spain. It has been found that the implementation of this certification scheme can be of interest for this type of destination.