{"id":11670,"date":"2026-06-29T13:55:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/?p=11670"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:12:15","slug":"acend-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/acend-2\/","title":{"rendered":"ASCEND"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>ASCEND<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>ASCEND<\/strong> \u201cBoosting Adventure Tourism SMEs Competitiveness and Economic Development\u201d is a project founded by the Interreg IPA South Adriatic 2021\/2027 Programme, within Priority PA 1 \u201cA smarter South Adriatic Programme area, by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation\u201d and Specific Objective 1.1 (<em>Enhancing sustainable growth and the competitiveness of SMEs and job creation in SMEs, including by productive investments<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>PROJECT OBJECTIVE:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ASCEND addresses the challenge of limited innovation and sustainability among Adventure Tourism SMEs in the South Adriatic area, a territory rich in parks, protected areas, coastlines, mountains, river basins and wetlands with strong tourism potential that has not yet been fully enhanced.<\/p>\n<p>The project aims to strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs in Albania, Montenegro, Molise and Puglia by supporting the creation and improvement of adventure tourism products and experiences, promoting targeted training, cross-border cooperation, access to grants for businesses and greater visibility in international tourism markets.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MAIN PROJECT ACTIVITIES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The ASCEND project supports the development and competitiveness of SMEs in the adventure tourism sector within the Programme area, focusing on parks, protected areas and pilot destinations. It aims to strengthen the sustainable tourism offer through analysis, training, financial support and international promotion.<\/p>\n<p>In the first phase, the project will carry out the mapping of SMEs and create a cross-border catalogue of good practices. Subsequently, capacity-building activities will be developed, including local co-creation workshops and the \u201ctrain-the-trainer\u201d programme, to enhance the skills and innovation of businesses.<\/p>\n<p>The project will also develop Local Action Plans and one Joint Cross-border Action Plan to increase cooperation and the competitiveness of SMEs.<\/p>\n<p>To provide concrete support, the project will offer a sub-grant scheme of up to \u20ac10,000 for the development of new tourism products and services. Finally, the results will be promoted through fam trips, participation in international tourism fairs and a final conference that will ensure the continuity of the project model.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>EXPECTED RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Strengthening the competitiveness of Adventure Tourism SMEs through training, mentoring, cross-border cooperation and access to a pilot funding model.<\/li>\n<li>Development of new sustainable adventure tourism products and experiences, with particular attention to natural areas, parks and lesser-known destinations.<\/li>\n<li>Validation of a joint sub-grant scheme that is transferable and replicable in other territories and contexts interested in developing sustainable adventure tourism.<\/li>\n<li>Greater international visibility for the destinations involved and consolidation of the South Adriatic as an attractive area for Adventure Tourism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Support for SMEs, public authorities, parks and protected areas, NGOs, local communities and tourists thanks to more innovative services, more sustainable practices and stronger cooperation among territories<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>PARTNERS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ASCEND brings together partners from Albania, Montenegro and Italy, including public authorities, tourism organizations, protected area management bodies and territorial development institutions. Each partner contributes with its expertise, local knowledge and experience to support the development of adventure tourism, strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs and promote sustainable tourism models in the South Adriatic area.<\/p>\n<p>Lead Partner:<\/p>\n<p>Provisional Management Consortium of the Regional Natural Park \u201cCoastal Dunes from Torre Canne to Torre San Leonardo\u201d, Italy<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project budget:<\/strong> 1,008,502.50 \u20ac<\/p>\n<p><strong>Albania budget<\/strong>: 178,350.05 \u20ac<\/p>\n<p><strong>DURATION:<\/strong> 01.07.2025 \u2013 31.12.2027<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>WEBPAGE OF THE PROJECT<\/strong>: <strong>:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/ascend.southadriatic.eu\/\"><strong>https:\/\/ascend.southadriatic.eu\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11694\" src=\"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/POSTER_page-0001-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1810\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/POSTER_page-0001-scaled.jpg 1810w, https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/POSTER_page-0001-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/POSTER_page-0001-724x1024.jpg 724w, https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/POSTER_page-0001-768x1086.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/POSTER_page-0001-1086x1536.jpg 1086w, https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/POSTER_page-0001-1448x2048.jpg 1448w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1810px) 100vw, 1810px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; ASCEND ASCEND \u201cBoosting Adventure Tourism SMEs Competitiveness and Economic Development\u201d is a project founded by the Interreg IPA South Adriatic 2021\/2027 Programme, within Priority PA 1 \u201cA smarter South Adriatic Programme area, by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation\u201d and Specific Objective 1.1 (Enhancing sustainable growth and the competitiveness of SMEs and job creation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.12.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["al","en"],"languages":{"al":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11670"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11707,"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11670\/revisions\/11707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mjedisi.gov.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}