May 21, marked the conclusion of the first cycle of informational meetings promoted within the framework of the CLUSTERATLAS4MED project — an important phase of listening and stakeholder engagement that laid the foundations for the creation of the Lucanian Cluster for Sustainable Rural Tourism. The final two meetings took place in Lauria, hosted by GAL La Cittadella del Sapere, and later in Metaponto, at the ALSIA headquarters, with the support of GAL START 2020. This concluded a journey launched in March in Genzano di Lucania, in collaboration with GAL Lucus, and continued in Sant’Arcangelo with GAL Lucania Interiore, and in Potenza with GAL Percorsi.

This series of meetings, strategically promoted together with the Local Action Groups active across the region and with the concrete involvement of the Basilicata Region, had a clear objective: to directly engage public and private stakeholders of the tourism value chain within their territories, presenting the project’s goals and opportunities while involving them in the upcoming operational phases.

The response gathered throughout the process was extremely positive. Entrepreneurs, representatives of organizations such as Confagricoltura, Confindustria and Coldiretti, local administrators, teachers and students from several vocational education institutes across Basilicata participated with great interest, providing reflections, ideas and concrete contributions. While acknowledging the critical challenges still affecting the region — particularly infrastructural issues — participants shared a common willingness to work together towards the development of a sustainable rural tourism model capable of connecting experiences, needs and perspectives from the different areas of Basilicata.

Among the topics that emerged most strongly, training was identified as a key driver for strengthening business competitiveness and improving the quality of the regional rural tourism offer. At the same time, participants reaffirmed the importance of developing a true cluster mindset, based on cooperation between public and private actors, integration of skills, creation of territorial networks, and the definition of shared strategies to enhance Basilicata’s rural heritage.

This vision fits into a broader perspective extending across the Mediterranean basin. In fact, CLUSTERATLAS4MED aims to build a Euro-Mediterranean network for the promotion of sustainable rural tourism, involving partners from Italy, Malta, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey.

With the conclusion of the informational phase, the project is now entering a new and more operational stage. The next step will be to capitalize both on the insights collected during the meetings and on the stakeholder network built so far, launching a new series of activities structured as co-creation laboratories. These spaces will allow operators, institutions and local communities to work together on defining the operational strategy of the future Lucanian Cluster for Sustainable Rural Tourism.

In this direction, participants in the various meetings signed an expression of interest — which is still open through the dedicated link — to stay updated on upcoming activities, which will begin next month and continue after the summer. This process will help define, in a shared and participatory way, the strategy and structure of a new Cluster that, also in dialogue with other regional initiatives already active in the area, may represent a further opportunity for growth and development for Basilicata’s rural areas.