Background The Mediterranean region is highly valued as it includes several sub-regions with different cultures: European, Middle Eastern and North African. Because of its culture, mild climate, natural beauty, rich history and architectural heritage, the Mediterranean remains a major tourist destination. This region accounts for nearly one-third of the total world international tourist arrivals. Increasing demand for tourism, especially in the southern Mediterranean countries in the last five years, has led to increased pressures, especially on the coastal environment. Such pressures raise the need for a more sustainable tourism practice: decision makers, investors and the general public are becoming more and more aware of the importance of the natural environment for sustainable tourism development. Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are countries with great tourism potential. The development of tourism is one of the major topics of the Coastal Area Management Programmes (CAMP) carried out by PAP/RAC in selected coastal zones in these countries, and was identified as an area of development. However, unsustainable tourism development presents an enormous risk to the environmental degradation and calls for immediate action. Therefore it is important that these countries, all in accordance with the findings of CAMPs, can benefit from tools that would allow them to take proper decisions. Objectives The DESTINATIONS project focused on Mediterranean areas within CAMPs carried out by PAP/RAC. It aimed to increase knowledge of the tourism carrying capacity concept and its efficient application within integrated management of coastal areas. The overall objective of the project was to establish a continuous planning and management process for sustainable tourism development in coastal areas of Mediterranean countries. Specific objectives were: Introduction of decision making tools for an effective management of tourism destinations in three demonstration areas in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, as a direct contribution to the already existing ICAM process within CAMP projects; Production of guidelines for tourism investors that would help assess the sustainability of their investments in the coastal areas in terms of environmental risks and added value for the local communities; Strengthening the capacity of investors in the selected demonstration sites for the use of tools for environmental management of tourism activities; Raising awareness for sustainable tourism practice in southern Mediterranean countries.Results The DESTINATIONS project reached its objectives and even beyond. The project contributed considerably to the development of environmentally friendly tourism in the Mediterranean region, in particular in the three pilot regions in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The methodology used was based on the strategic planning approach. So the integrated strategic planning approach followed by the DESTINATIONS project could serve as a model. The experience of the project was used by PAP/RAC in the preparation of a methodological manual for sustainable tourism planning in coastal areas. New tools for strategic planning and sustainable management of tourism destinations were introduced (CCA, sustainable tourism indicators, alternative scenarios method), and national and local stakeholders were trained to use these tools. This will contribute to changing the short-term practice of tourism development followed so far. The tools offered within the project and the change of attitudes that was initiated could help replacing the current tourism growth practice by a more strategic planning approach. A Tourism Carrying Capacity Assessment (TCCA) was implemented, including thorough analyses of the project areas with regard to their physical, environmental, socio-economic and economic characteristics. An Integrated Strategy for Sustainable Tourism has been developed for the project’s pilot areas. The Guidelines for sustainable tourism investments which were drawn up in English and French have attracted lots of interest as they are an innovative and practically unique tool and will be disseminated by many international organisations dealing with tourism (UNEP, UNWTO and WWF in first place). In Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia pilot projects for the introduction of environmental management tools in hotels have been set up. These hotels serve as demonstration projects to facilitate implementation of EMS in other hotels in the region. An environmental policy was established by the project in cooperation with hotel managers and local stakeholders. These policies were officially signed by the hotel directors and were made available for the hotel guests.These new environmental policies will be applied by these hotels in order to obtain the European Ecolabel in the years to come Finally, the project received the ‘Energy Globe Award 2007’. It was national winner for Algeria. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).