Promoting the local development of the cork territories and raising awareness of their importance is the objective of the initiative “Corklandtour. Cork, Landscape & Tourism”, launched by the European Network of Cork Territories (RETECORK) with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment. The aim of the project has been to promote the development of the territories where cork is produced, as well as to raise awareness of the importance and uniqueness of their natural and cultural heritage thanks to the valorisation of tourism.

To this end, a series of activities have been carried out in municipalities of Cordoba, Cadiz, Zaragoza, Girona, Barcelona, Castellón, Toledo, Zamora, Badajoz and Cáceres. All the actions of the project have been aimed at recovering and conserving the cork spaces, strengthening the link of different social agents to the project.

The work has started from the identification of potential tourist resources and facilities with a cork theme. In addition, the presence of European tour operators specialized in cork territories has been analyzed to update the work carried out by the entity in previous years. Thus, RETECORK has analysed the protected areas in Spain with the presence of cork oak trees, carrying out an inventory of them.

In addition, different events and meetings have been held that have allowed the initiative to be presented to tourism agents and other actors linked to the cork territories. Some of these presentations have been made outside the national territory, in Portugal, Italy and France, due to the international nature of the entity.

Another pillar of the project has been the actions to support the creation of tourism products in the different cork territories. To this end, six workshops have been held to create a tourism product, after which the Network’s technical team has advised the participants to help them launch their initiative.

Within the framework of the project, a campaign has been launched to promote the cork-themed tourist offer. Brochures, a professional dossier have been published and information has been disseminated on social networks to raise awareness of the value and uniqueness of the natural and cultural heritage of cork-producing territories.