Tourism and regional integration
The stakes of this tourism transition are considerable: they involve the vitality of an activity that on average counts for more than 10% of wealth production on both sides of the Mediterranean; the region’s territorial development (tourism development includes land planning); and especially the extent of Euro-Mediterranean integration. This is because tourism favours the circulation of people, capital, goods and knowledge. Given the increase in regional tourist flows (both North-South and South-South), creating the kind of tourism that contributes to development, preserves the environment and respects cultures would help to reduce tensions linked to ignorance of the other side, which evidently hinder regional integration.