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C6. Visitor management

The purpose of this action is to protect the habitats from the impacts of tourism such as such as vegetation and tree damage, sand dune erosion and littering through the proposed visitor management interventions and infrastructures. The following proposed concrete conservation actions will be reviewed and revised in the specifications (action A.8) following the outcomes of the following preparatory actions: A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4 and A.5.

Creation of Board walks: Boardwalks will be placed within the boundaries of the Cretan sites in order to reduce sand dune erosion and trampling. Board walks will be placed strategically on specific routes in order to channel people where they should go and away from where they should not go (sensitive areas). An additional benefit of this infrastructure is that it may facilitate disabled access. It is envisaged that local municipalities (see forms A8) will maintain the board walks after the end of the project.
Provision of appropriate public parking areas away from the habitats: Appropriate public parking areas will be identified through action A.5 and A.6 and specified in action A.8. Parking areas will be strategically created in order to prevent vehicle access to the habitats and will be of minimum intervention (limiting land disturbance, not using impervious surfaces, etc.). Parking areas will be delineated with environmentally sound, non-intrusive materials and access barriers will be placed where appropriate. This action will take place on all Cretan sites apart from Chrysi Island. It is envisaged that local municipalities (see form A8) will maintain the parking areas after the end of the project.
Rubbish bins: Rubbish bins will be placed within the boundaries of all Cretan sites in order to prevent uncontrolled littering. The bins of robust material will be strategically placed on specific routes following the results of action A.5 and A.8. It is envisaged that local municipalities (see forms A8) will maintain and manage the rubbish bins.
Although local municipalities have declared their support to maintain those actions after the end of the project, the outputs of action A.9, will formally identify and engage the responsible authorities which will officially be committed to maintain those actions.