Ecological footprint calculator & monitoring platform
The Ecological Footprint Calculator is a monitoring tool that calculates the environmental footprint of ecotourism itineraries in Mediterranean protected areas, allowing to measure the four main components of a tourism package in the destination: accommodation; food; transport; activities. The calculator is complemented with an Online Indicator Monitoring Platform, which integrates different tools that provide data and analysis for improving the quality and sustainability of ecotourism products (footprint and social impact) and destinations (governance and conservation management). This holistic dashboard promotes cooperation and participatory planning capabilities among local public/private ecotourism clusters, enhancing their ability to make decisions based on evidence.
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DestiMED pilot areas, as well as nine DestiMED PLUS pilots, used the Ecological Footprint Calculator to evaluate and refine product sustainability and resource use. These products were co-created using a public-private cluster approach. Parks, local operators, local DMOs and/or their local suppliers collected data about product quality, sustainability and environmental footprints to understand the drivers of planetary resource use, which is benchmarked against MEET dataset. The tool provides some basic results, and, with further human input, it can deliver more detailed analysis. The indicator monitoring platform includes the EF but also social impact, governance and conservation management results. With that, it allows to develop an improvement plan and monitor performance improvement against the MEET Standard. This monitoring process aims to ensure the best balance between offering high-quality services and maintaining a low ecological footprint while ensuring that ecotourism is delivering a positive impact on the destination.
Replicability conditions
This free calculator is available online by registering on the platform, and is integrated into the online Indicator Monitoring Platform. In order to evaluate the footprint of an ecotourism package and to complete the social impact, governance and conservation evaluations, it is recommended to appoint a specific person to act as the “surveyor”. This person can be a protected area, DMO or inbound operator staff, and should be responsible for collecting data from the involved service providers and stakeholders, and inserting it to the platform. At least one in-person visit is recommended to ensure data is collected as precisely as possible. For each ecotourism package the number of days and participants is required. In each of the categories (accommodation; food; transport; activities) the questions focus on the type of supply and how it is provided, as well as questions on their labour force and supply chain, among others.