{"id":11580,"date":"2024-12-23T11:32:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T10:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.albaniandf.org\/?p=11580"},"modified":"2024-12-23T11:32:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T10:32:01","slug":"terms-of-reference-consultancy-services-for-the-implementation-of-product-development-municipal-support-03-for-piutds-additional-financing-including-the-municipalities-of-per","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.albaniandf.org\/en\/2024\/12\/23\/terms-of-reference-consultancy-services-for-the-implementation-of-product-development-municipal-support-03-for-piutds-additional-financing-including-the-municipalities-of-per\/","title":{"rendered":"Terms of Reference Consultancy Services for the Implementation of \u201cProduct Development & Municipal Support 03 for PIUTD\u2019s Additional Financing, including the Municipalities of P\u00ebrmet, Gjirokastra, Saranda and Berat\u201d, Ref. No. AL-ADF-467721-CS-QCBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terms of Reference <\/strong><\/p>\n

Consultancy Services for the Implementation of<\/strong> \u201cProduct Development & Municipal Support 03 for PIUTD\u2019s Additional Financing, including the Municipalities of P\u00ebrmet, Gjirokastra, Saranda and Berat\u201d, Ref. No. <\/strong>AL-ADF-467721-CS-QCBS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND\u00a0 3<\/a><\/p>\n

Town specific background, objectives, and study area\u00a0 3<\/a><\/p>\n

SCOPE OF WORK\u00a0 7<\/a><\/p>\n

PHASE A: Event Calendar Design \u2013 2.5 months\u00a0 7<\/a><\/p>\n

Task 1: Inception phase – 2 week\u00a0 8<\/a><\/p>\n

Task 2: Event and Event Calendar design \u2013 8 weeks\u00a0 9<\/a><\/p>\n

PHASE B: Event Implementation & management \u2013 12 months 10<\/a><\/p>\n

IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK AND DELIVERABLES\u00a0 11<\/a><\/p>\n

TEAM PROFILE AND KEY PERSONNEL 12<\/a><\/p>\n

TIMEFRAME FOR THE ASSIGNMENT\u00a0 13<\/a><\/p>\n

COORDINATION WITH AUTHORITIES\u00a0 13<\/a><\/p>\n

REPORTING\u00a0 14<\/a><\/p>\n

ANNEX 1 \u2013 Shortlisted Tourism Products \u2013 New Products\/Events to be taken into consideration but not limited to: 15<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0BACKGROUND<\/h1>\n

The Project for Integrated Urban and Tourism Development (PIUTD) is focused on four major urban centres of south of Albania: Saranda, Gjirokastra, Berat and P\u00ebrmet. Among other goals, the Project aims to develop tourism in these areas. A marketing research and tourism value chain analysis were carried out in 2019 (pre-COVID) and over-arching product development plans and strategic marketing plans were developed for each municipality. Based on comparative advantages of each municipality proposals were defined for developing new tourism products or enhancing existing ones. For the purposes of efficient implementation and required skill sets, product development was divided into two different consultancy packages; events and events\u2019 calendar development, and, infrastructure related products.<\/p>\n

All product initiatives took into consideration time and effort needed for implementation, as well as the potential impact on the market. Thereby, a set of quick win initiatives were identified, as well as long-term development initiatives that are needed for a full and professional product development.\u00a0 Recognizing that the post-COVID environment will look very different, this consultancy should consider the previous work as guidance and may have to adapt many of the proposals to the current business operating environment.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Additional Financing become effective on December 2022 and will be used to support scale-up of investments on urban upgrading and infrastructure improvement, and also tourism product and market development activities into three additional locations in the South of Albania<\/strong>. The scale-up investments will be focused on Ksamil, Borsh and Orikum, which are closely connected to the municipalities which are participating in the parent Project and their tourism sites. The investments in Ksamil and Orikum would be within the scope Component 3 of Additional Financing: Component 3 of the parent Project, including tourism product and market development activities with focus on Ksamil Borsh and Orikum aiming to enrich the touristic offer of these two destinations and their access to markets.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The objectives of the PIUTD-AF are to: (a) improve urban infrastructure; (b) enhance tourism assets; and (c) strengthen institutional capacity to support tourism related local economic development in Selected Areas in the south of Albania.<\/em> Under this objective, the Product Development package of this consultancy falls under Component 3, \u201cTourism market and product development\u201d<\/u><\/strong> and focuses at strengthening the capacity of municipalities to deliver municipal services and supporting tourism market and product development through inter alia<\/em>: (iii) the development and implementation of market research and product development strategies. These tourism product and market development activities with focus on Ksamil, Borsh and Orikum but also includes the 4 subject Municipalities of PIUTD, aiming to enrich the touristic offer of these destinations and their access to markets.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      <\/a><\/a><\/a>\u00a0Town specific background, objectives, and study area<\/h2>\n

      Ksamil, Borsh, and Orikum have similar characteristics taking in consideration that all three areas are located by the coast and are popular destinations for summer tourism.<\/p>\n

      Ksamil is a town with a strong strategic position with direct connection with Saranda and Butrint. It has the size of approximately 1,7 km2 and is located on the south shore of the Mediterranean Sea close to the Greek island Corfu. There are 10,000 registered inhabitants, though only 3,141 are estimated to live in the settlement all year round. Ksamil is a popular destination for summer tourism with 128,850 tourists per year. In this regard, Ksamil is one of\u00a0the main urban centers in the southern Albania which is populated throughout the year, with a high presence of settlements, economic activities and touristic accommodations. The investment from the entrepreneurs are significantly increasing, and inhabitants have started to reinvest in their properties.<\/p>\n

      Ksamil<\/u><\/strong> is an area where the environmental (e.g. sea, lake) and cultural assets are combined together; National Park of Butrint, Ksamili Islands, Lake of Butrint, and Vivar Channel are the main assets of this area. The ruins of the ancient town of Butrint in the south of the peninsula are part of the UNESCO world cultural heritage. Ksamili administrative unit is one of the priorities in the National Development Strategy in terms of tourism. Thus, given that the tourism sector is one of the main sources of development of the area, residents consider it important for the provision of family income and the development of the entire city. The economic activity of the administrative unit of Ksamil is focused mainly on tourism as well as on construction, fishing and in fruit-growing. Fishing is mainly based on mussels farming in Butrint Lake.<\/p>\n

      However, the tourism nowadays is characterized by informal development patterns, hence resulting in lack of proper urban development, public spaces, parking etc. Ksamili’s chaotic urbanism, with illegal construction, lack of infrastructure and architectural standards, negatively affects the upcoming tourism and recreational developments of Ksamili itself and the entire Butrint Park.\u00a0 Over the last two decades, Ksamili has expanded without a proper urban planning, resulting in heavily built areas characterized by lack of green and open spaces, and problems of traffic congestions and missing parking facilities and poor road and underground infrastructure. Ksamil has no plaza or main square where people can gather for public events. Also, the cultural and sportive facilities are missing in the area.\u00a0 In addition, Ksamil has not adequate marketing and branding of the town.<\/p>\n

      The additional financing is expected to: improve urban core and the seaside areas of the town by improving the mobility, improving the urban elements such as promenade, lightening, facades, paths, requalification of the seaside area and the lakeside area, marketing, branding and tourism products and other projects as it will be defined during the design phase.<\/p>\n

      Borsh<\/u><\/strong> is a coastal town, that reflects a collection of settlements\u2014both historic and contemporary\u2014that exist along an alluvial plain that is the delta of a small river, flowing to the sea from the inland mountains. The mountains provided a secure point to build a castle, and a plain flat ground with rich soil to cultivate olives. In recent times, the wide beach created by this delta has provided the local economy with the opportunities related to the tourism economy. The sporadic resettlements and the ever-present attempt to move closer to the seaside has not been without consequences. Unfettered expansion and chaotic planning have dotted the fertile delta with a spattering of building. The lack of oversight and planning has resulted in a center-less sprawl\u2014a semi-urban\/suburban\/agrarian condition. Borsh is mostly known for its olive production, a process which was bolstered by the investment during the communist period. The project area includes the coastline of Borsh. It boasts the largest beach in all of the Albanian Riviera at 6km, a beautiful and expansive olive grove, and an incredibly valuable cultural asset: The Castle of Borsh. Perhaps of all the villages along this stretch of the Albanian Riviera, Qazim Pali is the youngest and most suitable for a transition into a tourist-haven.<\/p>\n

      The additional financing is expected to improve the seaside areas by improving the mobility, improving the urban elements.<\/p>\n

      Orikum<\/u><\/strong> is the second most important urban center in the Vlora Municipality (and third of the southern coast Albania), classified as a tourism strategic hub, located on the coastal landscape road connecting the southern coast locations. The administrative Orikum unit, 165 km south of the capital, is part of region number 4- the Southern Gateway of the Albanian Riviera. Orikumi is an administrative unit with 12.000 registered residents and 5.503 inhabitants only in Orikum town, and it is the only town in the Vlora Municipality having residents throughout the entire year. Orikum, located in the Southern part of Albanian Riviera and in close vicinity with Vlora town and Llogara National Park, represents high potentials for sustainable tourism (both summer and winter season) and cultural development. Orikum has about 60,000 visitors a year and due to its diverse tourist offer, the numbers are increasing. The relief of the Orikum area is diverse where coastal seas, hilly areas and deep mountain areas are intertwined. Orikumi is distinguished for its natural resources, biodiversity and ecological corridors and also for its archaeological, historical and cultural richness. Touristic potentials are well preserved, there is no degradation of the landscape despite the presence of informality in some areas, and the possibilities for improvement are high. In the Orikum administrative unit there are about 430 active business activities throughout the year and 150 other seasonal businesses. Most of them are mainly concentrated in Orikum, Dukat and Radhima. The Radhim\u00eb-Marina Orikum area is one of the most developed business poles regarding tourism services. The local economy relies on the tourism sector and other components such as emigration, livestock, fisheries and agriculture. Also, agriculture remains the main economic activity, as opportunities for the development of this sector are good, especially in Dukat and Tragjas. Cultivation of viticulture, horticulture, citrus have grown year by year. Despite the presence of the sea, the Orikum Lagoon located between Karaburun and the city of Orikum is a great potential for the area. Most importantly, Orikumi is in a natural protected area of the National Park of Llogara and the Karaburuni peninsula.<\/p>\n

      The Marmiroi Church and Orik are the two main cultural sites of Orikum. Orik ancient settlement is situated in the south-western shore of Orikum bay, in a low rocky hill, near a wood scaffold that separated a small lagoon with Pasha-Liman bay. In the 5th century, Byzantine Church of Marmiroi was built. The project area has the status of a Managed Nature Reserve, category IV, and is characterized by a biological and landscape diversity, because of the geographical position, landscaping, hydrography, earth conditions and various climates. Several important archaeological objects have been found in the city, but the archaeological search has been always limited due to the importance of this center that continues even nowadays to be used as a naval base. Numerous of the ancient objects found in the city are exposed at the Vlora Museum.<\/p>\n

      As mentioned above, Orikumi is distinguished for numerous natural resources, biodiversity and ecological corridors and also for its archaeological, historical and cultural richness. Orikumi together with the surrounding villages make up a wealthy treasury, including the Managed Nature Reserve of Karaburun (20,000ha), the Llogara National Park (1,010ha) and the Karaburun-Sazan National Park (12,428ha).\u00a0 Orikum’s lagoon of about 130ha is another tourist attraction that connects to the sea through the canal.<\/p>\n

      Given this situation, product development initiatives:<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Are oriented to achieve following goals: upgrade destination tourism offer, increase number of guests, increase average length of stay and increase average expenditure per visitor;<\/li>\n
      2. Build destinations image and strengthen their positioning;<\/li>\n
      3. Connect and provide sustainability with previously defined tourism products;<\/li>\n
      4. Are connected to key tourism resources;<\/li>\n
      5. Complement current tourism offer and attractions in the best possible way given the time and limited budget;<\/li>\n
      6. Further give purpose and valorize currently under used resources;<\/li>\n
      7. Are globally competitive initiatives that have strong market base and proved to be successful in other destinations worldwide;<\/li>\n
      8. Can be implemented not only with the money given by the PIUTD, but also through donations and sponsorships from both private and public sector; or\/and by introducing ticket sales model for the participants.<\/li>\n
      9. Take into consideration rural parts and surrounding areas of each destination in order to spread tourism flows through the entire region.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide market and product development support, develop integrated, complementary and self-sustainable events for each municipality and implement these events in close collaboration with Albanian Development Fund, each municipality and other stakeholders. The consultancy is expected to build capacity and create Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for event planning, event implementation, event promotion and event monitoring and reporting that would allow these events to be implemented in the future by staff in each municipality and\/or other possible stakeholders.<\/p>\n

        Moreover, apart from initiatives identified for each Municipality, additional cross-municipal initiatives are identified, that present quick-wins. Cross-municipal initiatives will imply collaboration among all municipalities and communes involved, where each municipality will be in charge for organizing, managing and maintaining the initiative on their territory.<\/p>\n

        Many of the big events have a goal to position South Albania on the global map<\/strong>, develop the local markets by attracting and connecting to foreign markets and have more economic impact to the destinations than smaller scale, local events that are merely an additional activity for guests in the destination and may not be a real motive for visits. Thereby, for each destination a balanced combination of those events is planned.<\/p>\n

        Within the product development strategy, as well as product development 01 consultancy, more than 20 tourism product concepts were developed and within the marketing strategy, an umbrella plan was created for all of the designated municipalities, with details regarding which specific market should be targeted for each product, when and how.<\/p>\n

        All proposed initiatives are not exhaustive. Final concepts, content and points of interest to be included are part of operationalization and implementation by the Consultant to execute the work. Also, the Consultant should jointly agree with each Municipality and ADF for each event concept, before starting the implementation. Moreover, besides the new products that the consultant should provide, also, many of the activities should connect to and support already existing initiatives on the local level (e.g. Wine Fest in Berat, Solar Fest in Saranda, events in Gjirokastra, Permet etc.), not only to provide sustainability and continuity, but add value to those activities and propose a more competitive and innovative concept.<\/p>\n

        Within the source market section, following regions are identified, that currently consume such product in Albania or globally, and represent potential market to focus on:<\/p>\n