PortCREW is being developed and tested in five Mediterranean pilot areas: Valencia, Toulon, Koper, Ravenna and Thessaloniki. These destinations represent different types of cruise tourism contexts, from fast-growing hubs to established ports, but they share a common ambition: to better manage cruise peaks and promote inland, natural and cultural assets as part of a more sustainable visitor experience.
In Valencia, the pilot focuses on diversifying the tourist offer and reducing concentration in the city centre. The wider province offers opportunities such as the San José Caves, Xàtiva, Requena, Bocairent, Chulilla and Carcaixent, which can help attract different visitor profiles and support excursions beyond the metropolitan area.
Toulon faces a different challenge. Some cruise passengers arriving in the destination continue toward other well-known Riviera locations, including Marseille, Nice and Monaco. The PortCREW pilot aims to retain more visitors locally by promoting nature-based tourism and zero-carbon shore excursions linked to the surrounding area.
In Koper, the cruise terminal is located very close to the historic city centre, creating both an advantage and a challenge. The pilot is focused on encouraging soft mobility, including electric bicycles, to help distribute visitors toward hinterland destinations and reduce pressure on the immediate urban area.
Ravenna’s pilot is closely connected to the destination’s natural and cultural assets. The city combines UNESCO-listed heritage, coastal landscapes and access to the Po Delta Park. The new cruise terminal at Porto Corsini is being designed as a sustainable facility, with green spaces and cold ironing infrastructure planned to reduce pollution and noise from ships at berth.
Thessaloniki’s pilot focuses on expanding digital tourism tools and better distributing visitor flows across the city and wider region. The project seeks to extend the functionalities of the Thessaloniki Smart City Pass card and provide cruise passengers with real-time information, sustainable practices and digital navigation tools.
Across all five destinations, PortCREW is not applying a one-size-fits-all model. Instead, each pilot is shaped around its own tourism flows, local assets, infrastructure and stakeholder priorities. This context-sensitive approach is central to the project’s definition of eco-tourism, which focuses not only on formal labels or certifications, but on measurable value in terms of territorial balance, lower environmental footprint, social acceptability and alignment with local sustainable tourism strategies.
