Deputy minister of tourism Costas Koumis said that urgent joint actions were needed to safeguard Mediterranean coasts and seas and maintain their allure, at a ministerial meeting in Messinia, Greece, hosted by Greek Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni.
Koumis, attending the launch of the “Research and Monitoring Centre for Coastal and Maritime Tourism in the Eastern Mediterranean,” stressed the importance of protecting the Mediterranean environment to sustain its ‘sun and sea” appeal.
“The joint actions for the protection of the sea and the Mediterranean coast are more necessary than ever,” he noted. “This is the only way to preserve the ‘sun and sea’ product, which has made the Mediterranean countries particularly popular worldwide.”
The project aims to closely track and support the growth of coastal and maritime tourism in the Mediterranean, promoting sustainable practices.
Countries taking part in the meeting — Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania — agreed that the Mediterranean’s coastal areas drive both development and prosperity.
This, they concluded, necessitated a collective effort to protect the coastlines and nearby regions.
In his contribution to the round-table discussions, Koumis highlighted the unique environmental advantages shared by Mediterranean countries, noting, “All Mediterranean countries have developed tourism to a great extent thanks to the special characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea.”
He added that each country, both individually and collectively, has a duty to implement measures to preserve these assets.
As signs of coastal erosion become more prominent in various part of the Mediterranean, Koumis believed urgent collective action was needed and called for a mechanism to share effective practices across countries, facilitating broader application throughout the region.
