Environmental Upgrading through TOUrism (EUTOU)

The project aims to devise, test and implement a transferable methodology to improve a degraded urban waterfront at Wuzhishan City, Hainan Province, Peoples Republic of China, using tourism as a catalyst for regeneration. The methodology will produce an action plan (Urban Tourism Action Plan) which can be replicated in other urban areas, notably those in Provincia di Avellino and Cheshire where similar actions may be considered. Overall target groups are the inhabitants of Wuzhishan City and its environs (population 107,000), located in the mountain interior of Hainan where a large proportion (65%) are disadvantaged minorities (Li and Miao), and, specifically, the residents of the Nanshan River waterfront. Lack of investment and increased unemployment are major problems in the town as tourists have moved to the coastal areas. The three main activities are: to upgrade the environment of the Wuzhishan City waterfront; stimulate urban tourism based on the city’s cultural heritage and; establish and test a consultation and implementation framework for the five year plan.