Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
By: Damaris Hernández Marí/ CIMAC Camagüey.
More and more clients are choosing tourist destinations that offer them not only the discovery of new places, but also the experience of contributing to the well-being of local communities and getting involved in sustainable practices of conservation and care of their ecosystems.
Blue tourism offers this possibility by promoting an intelligent, sustainable and integrative economy based on the rational and sustainable use of natural resources.
The Resilient Blue Tourism project in the context of climate change: Santa Lucía beach destination, which began its implementation in March of this year and will extend until December 2025, aims, precisely, to implement a technological package that promotes the development of blue tourism resilient in the Camagüey resort.
This innovation project, assigned to the Territorial Program Sustainable development of tourism in the province of Camagüey, has the leadership of the Camagüey Environmental Research Center (CIMAC) and the participation of specialists from the provincial delegations of the Ministries of Tourism and of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), the universities of Camagüey and Guantánamo, and the Provincial Flora and Fauna Company.
Among the planned scientific results are those related to the implementation of the Santa Lucía beach tourism development strategy under the resilient blue tourism approach, the creation of a Protected Natural Landscape protected area for the conservation and sustainable use of marine ecosystems. coastal areas, the design of the destination's blue tourism brand and training various sectors about this new tourism approach as a measure of adaptation to climate change.
Within this great package of technologies aimed at the revitalization of Saint Lucia, the design of new products based on the sustainable use of marine-coastal ecosystems stands out for the attractions that it will offer to foreign and national visitors.
Tourism products with blue focus
Although work is still being done on the conceptualization of the final proposal on tourism products, this result of the project shows significant progress.
The master of sciences Jesús Miguel Rodríguez Rubinos, assistant professor of the Department of Tourism of the University of Camagüey, told Radio Cadena Agramonte that “as part of the result, a Group of Design Thinkers was established, with a transdisciplinary approach. Collective work, creativity, and its integrative vision have allowed us to advance in the conceptualization and design of several product proposals.”
- What are the premises that guide the design of these new products?
- “Under the new paradigm of Blue Tourism, the logic of putting ecosystem resources in function of tourism is changed and the principle of tourism in function of ecosystem resources is adopted. They are products based on the resources provided by the destination's ecosystem, which satisfy customer expectations, provide them with the opportunity to participate in its conservation and in actions that support its resilience, without forgetting community involvement,” he explained.
The team worked on the design of one of the tourist products that will be called Club Client Azul and that incorporates the use of medicinal mud obtained in the El Real salt mine. In this sense, they identified activities that must be guaranteed from the hotel point of view and their marketing, the exclusivities that clients of this club will be able to enjoy in nautical activities, as well as the necessary actions for the possible use of medicinal sludge.
Regarding the benefits of incorporating locally produced medicinal mud, the professor from the house of higher studies noted: “turning our gaze towards the resources of the ecosystem, beyond the conventional sun and beach, allows us to diversify and give use value to endogenous, sustainable resources with widely identified therapeutic values.
The blue economy and blue tourism approach calls for looking back at what the ecosystem contributes. This generates employment, diversifies the economic activity of the salt industry and promotes linkages between the actors of the destination. It is, furthermore, a product based on knowledge and innovation, it applies the experience and knowledge of the community that has used it naturally and traditionally, and is supported by research and the physical-chemical characterization of the sludge."
Other products in which they work include among their exclusive attractions for clients, specialized diving tourism, the planting of corals in identified sites that require reforestation and participation in activities aimed at environmental conservation in areas of Saint Lucia.
Blue contributions to the tourism sector in Cuba
Given the demands of the tourism sector, expectations with the implementation of the project are high. This was confirmed by the master of sciences Ivón Montejo Salgado, subdelegate of Cubanacán Hotels in Camagüey.
“The tourism modality that is mostly marketed in Saint Lucia is sun and beach tourism, as is the case in the main destinations in Cuba, even those that are better positioned. Among the impacts we expect from the project is the differentiation of Santa Lucía with respect to other destinations, giving it a new image and giving it added value in terms of sustainability and environmental contributions, elements that many clients who visit us look for. and others that we can incorporate and attract as potential clients.”
She affirmed that Cubanacán is fully involved in the implementation of the theoretical and practical contributions of the project to that hotel chain, and that they will include the tourist products conceived with this approach in their marketing once they are designed, priced and the distribution channels have been identified.
Both Rodríguez Rubinos and Montejo Salgado agree that the greatest challenge lies in identifying the demand for the products and their commercial introduction, in which the rules of the market and communication must be followed. However, they have the expertise of the team and are already working in this regard.
When asked why Saint Lucia needed a project of this magnitude, Professor José Miguel Rubinos stated: “Blue Tourism will be not for mere purpose or fashion label, but because it is based on the identified principles of incorporating solutions based on nature; work with available local resources; promote respect for the natural, but also for the social and cultural, since in the ecosystem everything is connected; and implement innovative solutions that involve society and the natural environment.
Only if we follow these principles will we be contributing through tourism to generating resilience in the destination in the face of the challenges of environmental changes. The complex economic, social and environmental scenarios require proactive adaptation actions that allow maintaining the identity and essence of the tourism system.” (Photos: Facebook page Camagüey Travel and the author) (Infographic, postcard and video: the author)
