Traditional tourism metrics, visitor counts, overnight stays, ticket sales, capture activity but not necessarily impact. MED4REGEN's methodology instead starts before visitors even arrive, focusing on whether museums and cultural institutions have become more open to collaboration, whether local stakeholders are working together differently, and whether participants have gained new skills or confidence. This is the focus of the project's Pilot Action 1, built on the idea that regenerative tourism depends on trust and shared knowledge being established first.

This reframes evaluation as something that runs throughout a project rather than only happening at the end: documenting what's being learned, flagging unexpected partnerships, and identifying what needs adjusting before moving to the next stage. Quantitative indicators, participation numbers, stakeholder diversity, completed pilot activities, still matter, but they sit alongside qualitative questions about whether institutions collaborate more effectively and whether new ideas have enough momentum to continue after the project ends. Sarajevo is used as a working example, where museums are testing Living Labs, temporary exhibitions and public events that treat heritage as something communities actively shape rather than passively preserve.

#RegenerativeTourism #TourismSustainabilityIndicators #CulturalPreservation #CommunityBasedTourism