Connecting Nautical Tourism and Agro-food Industry as a Way to Boost Competitiveness and Sustainability of Mediterranean Destinations. The Case of Cambusa Project

Nautical Tourism in the Mediterranean is a relevant source of revenue for the involved territories. Nautical destinations are geographical hubs capable of hosting boats and vessels. In turn, these capabilities provide both technical services and tourism-related services to the visiting yachtsmen and to the residents. Nautical destinations can be viewed as gateways to the inner or internal areas bordering the coastal areas. This access occurs provided that there are sufficient links between the offer of goods and services of the inland (agro-food products, cultural, and natural attractions and connected services) and the potential users or customers which reach the area from the sea. The Cambusa project addresses the need to establish such links. There are several means through which this project can facilitate these connections. For example, by leveraging on the attractiveness of the maritime activities, supporting the access to high quality, locally produced traditional food and fostering the connection between coast and internal areas to boost competitiveness of both maritime business and agro-food companies of the rural areas. The paper describes the approach used to develop the project and define its strategy by the means of an innovative combination of participative policymaking and lean start-up methodologies and techniques. The study result is the definition of a best practice which allows two different economic sectors to create and implement a joint territorial strategy with shared goals in order to achieve better performances.