Strategy for the sustainable tourism development of the carpathians

2.7Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring means constantly checking if the implementation of the goals, objectives and the work program of the strategy are carried out properly and whether they have the intended effects. Monitoring and its results should help to form decisions about how the plan should be managed in the future.

Country consultations made it very clear that the proper monitoring and evaluation is expected including:

1. 
   Creation a joint monitoring standard system and a benchmark-platform so as to monitor the following issues:
   

1. Quality of the visitor experience

• 
  Length of stay at the site or area.
  
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  Number of visitors.
  
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  Bed nights/room occupancy.
  
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  Questionnaire response to set questions on levels of enjoyment/satisfaction.
  
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  Questionnaire response to questions about perceived overcrowding.
  

2. Economic factors

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  Spend per head of visitor.
  
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  Total visitor spend per year.
  
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  Estimated number of jobs supported by visitor spending.
  

3. Community factors

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  Number of planning applications received/granted/refused.
  
• 
  Number of complaints received by local authority from locals and visitors.
  

4. Environmental factors

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  Air and water quality.
  
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  Noise levels.
  
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  Amounts of litter.
  
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  Number of historic buildings at risk.
  
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  Impact of tourism flow in the different areas
  
• 
  Visual assessment of the quality of the urban scene by zone
  
• 
  Visual assessment of the state of the habitat/landscape by zone
  

2. 
   Based on the continous impact-analysis, careful impact-management. Establishing responsible bodies for monitoring in each country
   
3. 
   Incorporating of legal and operating tools allowing flexible changes – finance support, development of traditional types of economies - keeping the bodies of Protected Areas informed and allow them to comment
   

The tasks completed and the impacts it causes have to be monitored at different timescales (see chart). The short-term review evaluates whether the work program has been carried out. The medium-term review evaluates the outcomes of the plans objectives and the long-term review verifies the impacts of the work and therefore how well the goals have been achieved. The review should evaluate the impacts related to the overall goals of the strategy and the strategies of the seven Carpathian countries.

Monitoring timescales
Short-term	Every day evaluation of work plan implementation	1 year
Mid-term	Evaluation of effectiveness of outcomes for meeting the objectives	5 years
Long-term	Evaluation of positive effects of the entire strategy	10 years

3APPENDICES

3.1Contributions required by the stakeholders on Carpathian wide actions/results and country specific actions/results

Measures	Carpathian wide	Country specific
Carpathian region is a sustainable tourism destination
Regional tourism products
Quality standards
Contribution to local economy
Managing tourist traffic
Contribution to conservation of biodiversity
Agriculture and forest management as sectors of special interest for tourism
Transport and infrastructure
Local cultural heritage
Education and awareness on sustainability issues
Experience exchange, information and capacity building
Trans-boundary cooperation
Managing impacts on biological diversity, natural, socio-economic and cultural environment
Monitoring effectiveness of the strategy
Common projects and programs