ATLANTIC SUNSET_Communication Plan
LOGO_ATLANTIC

ATLANTIC_SUNSET, an innovative project on the tourist valorization of sunsets on the European Atlantic coast

ATLANTIC_SUNSET, an innovative project around the touristic valorization of sunsets on the European Atlantic coast has just been approved within the framework of the first call of the European Atlantic Area 2021-2027 program.

Led by the Centro de Estudios Euroregionales Galicia-Norte de Portugal (CEER) Foundation, this is the first European project in this area and is a milestone in the sustainable use of this resource for tourism outside of the major European sunset destinations.

The project, based on the expertise of different research groups of European reference in the field of physics and geography, seeks not only to take advantage of the natural beauty associated with the best and most particular sunsets of the Atlantic but also to identify and enhance the local endogenous resources associated with the sun and that become a heritage attraction.

The basis for the ideation of the project has been the already known scientific study of Professor Jorge Mira (USC) on the last sunsets in Europe. Thanks to his work, strategic points have already been identified in Galicia and Portugal for the observation of the last continental sunsets. This project will link this work on the last sunsets, and its spiritual and historical coincidence, with the Galician Finisterre, French Finisterre, Land’s End in the United Kingdom and the corresponding «Land’s End» in Ireland and Norway, and will seek to refine the places in other geographies where this particular event takes place. An event that only occurs in certain extreme locations of the continent and the islands and with a very specific seasonality, thus turning this phenomenon into a spectacle that each year attracts more and more tourists attracted by the growing demand for astrotourism, with the intrinsic component of the sustainability of this modality.

Based on this idea, and after several meetings between Jorge Mira and the CEER Foundation, preparatory work began to lay the foundations for a cooperation project that will include various activities focused on identifying some of the best places to see sunsets, carry out studies in collaboration with local communities, tourism agents and other development agents, and develop a tourism plan that will be marketed to potential visitor networks.

In summary, the project will be a new opportunity for joint territorial development linked to the sunset and will enhance the value of the Atlantic coast of Western Europe as a means of alternative economic development to traditional tourism, considering temporal and spatial complementarity, social inclusion and social innovation.

The consortium is formed by 8 partners from 4 countries, CEER Foundation, University of Santiago de Compostela (ANTE – Territorial Analysis Research Group – IDEGA, and the Department of Applied Physics), Wireless Galicia and University of Seville, in Spain; Universidade do Porto, in Portugal; University of Angers, in France; and University of Galway, in Ireland. And it will be supported without funding by a diverse group of partners, such as Turismo de Galicia, CMAT (Costa da Morte), Innovation Norway (Visit Norway), INCITE-CSIC, Associação Nacional de Municípios Portugueses, Visit Cornwal, Mayo Dark Sky Park / Wild Nephin National Park, Subscribe to DeepL Pro to translate larger documents. Visit www.DeepL.com/pro for more information.

Technological University Dublin, Turismo de Porto e Norte and Cornwall Council. The partners will start working from this moment with a budget of more than 1.300.000 EUR (75% financed with FEDER funds) to be spent during 3 years.

The projects approved in this call, which included the participation of 62 proposals submitted, were 27, of which 9 will be led from Galicia.

The new Interreg Atlantic Area 2021-2027 program aims to support innovative initiatives that contribute to the growth of this area, solving common challenges through the implementation of joint actions, the exchange of best practices and the contribution to new or current policies.

For more information on the Interreg Atlantic_Sunset Project and its activities, please contact Daniel Fernández Santiago (CEER Foundation).

Press contact:

Daniel Fernández Santiago CEER Foundation
vigotec@fceer.org