By Andrea Rodriguez, Ripess Europe
From October 27th to the 1st of November, a meeting took place in the city of Cremona, Italy, to complete one of the phases of the Erasmus + project “Solidarity Tourism and Youth Mobilization”.
The event was attended by the different partners (ANIMAR; KOAN; ATES; RIPESS EU and NAZARETH COOPERATIVA) as well as different guests, young and not so young people who have a personal interest or have worked on the issues of solidarity and sustainable tourism.
The aim of the meeting was to share knowledge and to reflect together on new forms of tourism and mobilisation that take into account, among other things, the values of the Social and Solidarity Economy, i.e. care for the environment and respect for the natural and social environment, the promotion of values such as inclusion, mutual support, care, etc.
During these days that were dedicated to discuss about different topics: Sustainable Tourism, Inclusive Tourism, Youth Implications in Tourism, Problems of Tourism and gentrification and sustainable food systems and Tourism, RIPESS EU had two very special guests: USE-IT and FairBnb.
USE-IT is a youth-led organisation that provides tourism information for young people. The main focus of their work is the creation of maps of different cities that are made by local young people. In addition, their criteria include the idea that these maps should not be commercial, i.e. they are completely free, can be picked up at different points in the city, and are updated on a regular basis. The idea is to add in these maps different things like the history of the city, different words in the language itself and above all Social Economy alternatives like bars and cooperatives that you can visit.
It is a map for Young Travellers that will help guide you around the city.
If you are planning a trip, click here to see the maps that are already available.
FairBnb, on the other hand, is a cooperative that gives both travellers and neighbours the opportunity to participate in a more responsible and sustainable tourism model by supporting social and ecological projects for local communities. Fairbnb offers tourist flats, but invests the profits in local projects. On the other hand, they also work with local councils to verify hosts and Local Nodes, but above all to define sustainability rules and protect the community from the negative impacts of tourism.
In addition to this, and despite the fact that many topics were left out, such as the relationship between gender and tourism, the tools that SSE can provide to achieve a more sustainable and respectful Tourism… etc, the project will continue until the middle of next year, and in this phase we will be building a methodology on sustainable tourism for young people.
