Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Programme 2014 - 2020 Black Sea Basin ENI CBC

Date of latest update: 2025-06-17

Description

Description (EN):

The GreeTHiS (Green Tourism and Historical heritage – a Stepping stone for development of the Black Sea Basin) project derives from the shared idea within the project consortium that the national historic and architectural heritage is extremely beneficial for development of cultural tourism, yet, it’s a very sensitive part of the Black Sea countries’ social and economic life. On the one side, the territory of each of the participating countries is exceptionally rich of historic and architectural heritage, represented not only by monuments, but mostly of buildings and urban communities, protected by national and international legislation. On the other side, protected buildings face solid barriers in their maintenance and exploitation as tourist, residential or business objects, thus influencing negatively the environment. The complex balancing between legal and environmental requirements and business development of the historical buildings is identified as a common issue in the Black Sea countries and GreeTHiS project is ambitious to provide opportunities for innovative and unconventional solutions. Two local authorities, two associations of local authorities and two non-profit organisations from six Black Sea countries (Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine) unite their efforts in implementing number of activities, focused to boosting the development of the cultural tourism in the Black Sea countries. The GreeTHiS project explores the opportunities for development a cross border green cultural tourism in the project countries and beyond by providing a vast platform for experience and knowledge sharing between tourist market operators, local authorities, owners of protected buildings and end users. In a range of workshops, green tourist weekends, business breakfasts and study visits GreeTHiS ensures active participation and involvement of all interested parties. As a result a joint Roadmap of the BSB heritage cultural tourism will outline the trend in development and will unite the common goals of the BSB countries; innovative technical solutions for EE in protected buildings will be included in an electronic green technologies platform in favour of entrepreneurs in heritage protection. Furthermore, a virtual reality guide to historic Black Sea places results from a context research of green cultural tourist market potential in the project countries as well as from feasibility studies performed within the project, thus promoting the tourist attractiveness of the explored areas. Finally, City of Izmail (Ukraine), UBBSLA (Bulgaria) and Municipality of Orestiada (Greece) demonstrate how a protected building could be transformed into an attractive cultural tourist site by a combination of contemporary climate adaptation measures and tourist facilities. The best possible territorial coverage of the project is an advantage for ensuring the potential replication of project achievements.

Achievements (EN):

Main achievements of the project: 1. A joint online catalogue for green tourism The GreeTHis catalogue is a sustainable and tangible tool for all target groups - from the market operators and local authorities to the general public - to obtain information about the latest trends of technological development in energy efficiency and climate protection of the protected buildings; and for the tourist operators in their aims at diversifying the tourist product. 2. A roadmap of the BSB historical tourism and its green aspects The roadmap on historical tourism of the Black Sea region is an innovative tool for enhancing touristic communication and visits between countries in the Black Sea Region, which enjoyed, once, from antiquity and up to the emergence of modern state-nations, close encounters on the demographic, economic and cultural level. The roadmap includes: a) estimates about cost-effectiveness and energy saved in the budget of BSB regions if the agenda proposed in the course of the project is widely adopted; b) mapping historic buildings in environmentally protected zones in order to set priorities for future investments in energy-efficient actions; c) an assessment of other risk factors in the historic buildings involved in the project; d) ways and suggestions to enhance interconnectivity between BSB regions, particularly those involved in the project; e) suggestions for improving accessibility by all visitors, including people with special needs and providing information to all; 3. Virtual guide to historic Black Sea Cross border places The Virtual guide for historic Black Sea Cross border sites and heritage assets will contribute greatly to the knowledge of the common past of these regions. It will consist of an interactive tool for locating sites and assets on the map, discovering their history and other relevant information (such as managing authority, the administrative entity they belong to etc.), their energy footprint, relevant information about local stakeholders etc. The Guide contributes greatly to school education in the participant countries, as it can develop into teaching material for local and regional history and geography. 4. "Karatheodoris Exhibition Center in Nea Vyssa, Orestiada" By the completion of the activity, were improved the conditions of keeping and displaying to the public the rich material that the family/descendants of Karatheodoris own and are willing to donate so it can be exposed to a decent place. The creation of the Virtual Museum of the Karatheodori family in Greece is a biographical-historical gallery where visitors will be able to observe the lives of important historical personalities that lived in a specific geographical area in different historical phases while giving them the opportunity to see how they fared utilising the data of their era while opening new roads regarding culture, accumulating knowledge and hard work. The project website www.greethis.net increased awareness by the transmission of descriptive information and news regarding the activities and events realised in the partner countries Over 80 events have been organised at national and international levels with the participation of more than 2000 representatives of business, state and science institutions, authorities, NGOs, and the general public. GreeTHIS achievements have been transformed into new collaborations and ideas for future projects of the partners.

Website: http://blacksea-cbc.net/

Expected Results (EN): R 1.1 Strength of cross-border business opportunities in the tourism and cultural sectors

Expected Outputs (EN):

The project aims at achieving the following results: • Examined at least 5 EE/climate adaptation technologies for application guidance in historic buildings and community (in each partner country). • Feasibility studies for 3 potential heritage objects in each country (18 in total). • Execution of a market research of producers/distributors of green technologies . • A context research execution of the market potential in cultural and historical tourism and developed a roadmap of the BSB green historical tourism. • Implemented awareness campaign in historic communities and tourist business society. • Exchanged experience between partner countries in the field of history protection and environmentally friendly tourist strategies for development of a green tourism according to the contemporary environmental trends. By achieving these results the GreeTHiS project will contribute to the Programe RI 1.1 "Strength of cross border business opportunities in the tourism and cultural sector". The market and context researches will be the basis for the outputs O.T1.1 and O.T1.2, thus creating a viable and instant relation between the stakeholders, revealing the business potential in the energy and tourist sectors. Additionally, the feasibillity studies will help the entrepreneurs, heritage owners and local authorities to change their behaviuor in favour of heritage preservation and development of green cultural tourism. It's linked directly with the output O.T2.2 Virtual guide to historic BSCB places, which, in turn, will become a valuable tool for promotion of the project countries values and their market operators. Lastly, the various joint international meetings, like workshops, green weekends and study visits will boost the facilitate the dialoge between the Black Sea countries on a professional and political level, hence contributing to establishment of strong branche relations.

Thematic information

Cultural heritage and arts Tourism

Thematic Objective: Business and SME development

Partners (6)

Lead Partner: Асоциация на Българските Черноморски Общини

Address: Preslav 4, 9000 Varna, Bulgaria

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.ubbsla.org

Total budget: EUR 86 592.92

Executive Committee of Izmail City Council

Name: Executive Committee of Izmail City Council

Address: Suvorovo Blvd. 62, 68600 Izmail, Ukraine

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.izmail-rada.gov.ua

Total budget: EUR 21 583.49

Agentia de Cooperare Transfrontaliera si Integrare Europeana

Name: Agentia de Cooperare Transfrontaliera si Integrare Europeana

Address: "31 August" 23/4, MD-3900 Cahul, Moldova

Legal status: public

Website: http://actie.org.md

Total budget: EUR 45 368.06

Asociația de Cooperare Transfrontalieră Euroregiunea "Dunărea de Jos"

Name: Asociația de Cooperare Transfrontalieră Euroregiunea "Dunărea de Jos"

Address: Eroilor 64, 800119 Galati, Romania

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.portal-edj.ro

Total budget: EUR 52 075.32

The National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia

Name: The National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia

Address: Kostava Avneue 75 g, 0171 Tbilisi, Georgia

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.nala.ge

Total budget: EUR 34 084.43

Δήμος Ορεστιάδας

Name: Δήμος Ορεστιάδας

Department: Department of Programming / Department of Technical Works

Address: Vasileos Konstantinou 11, 68200 Orestiada, Greece

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.orestiada.gr

Total budget: EUR 7 440.00

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Executive Committee of Izmail City Council

Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Partners and Projects info

Cross-border Cooperation and European Integration Agency

Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Partners and Projects info

Association of Cross-border Cooperation "Lower Danube Euroregion"

Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Partners and Projects info

The National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia

Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Partners and Projects info

Δήμος Ορεστιάδας

Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Partners and Projects info

Union of Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities

Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Project acronym: GreeTHiS

Project start date: 2018-10-23

Project end date: 2021-12-22

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 247 144.22

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 227 372.66

Co-financing sources:

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 Black Sea Basin ENI CBC

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2025-06-06

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

43 / 43 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

220 / 220 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme on 2025-03-10. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://blacksea-cbc.net/), or a website directly linked from it, on 2024-02-01, except for projects with acronyms AGREEN, BeECO, BRIDGES, BSB ECO MONITORING, BSB Smart Farming, CRoCuS, EXCELTOUR, LeNetEco 2, LOC-FOOD, SILC, THC (in these cases, the information was provided by the Programme).

The financial data featured in keep.eu for this programme, it's projects and its partners is not exact and should be taken as a reference only.

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Green tourism and historical heritage – a stepping stone for the development of the Black Sea Basin

Description

Thematic information

Partners (6)

Partners map

Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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