Both Denmark and Ireland are nations characterized by their close proximity to the sea, they are nations of the sea. Historical cities and sites were build facing the sea; but still many residents and visitors only experience the regions from the back. The REFITOUR project was outlined as an attempt to give people a chance to see the coast from the sea-side.

Generally, people are fascinated by the sea, by its secrets, by its changing faces, by its richness - and by its inaccessibility. The sea is a mystery to the majority of the human species. The REFITOUR project intended to increase peoples knowledge of the sea, both to satisfy their curiosity, and to raise peoples awareness of the sea as an integrated part of our lives on land.

Apart from their natural characteristics, the two regions in Ireland and Denmark are also characterised by their dependence on the fishery; and by a recent increase in the number of tourists visiting the regions. The Dingle peninsula has approximately 500,000 visitors per year, and for the Djursland peninsula the number is more than 1 million people every year. The REFITOUR project aimed at giving these visitors a chance to learn about peoples' traditions and special culture as a community depending on fishery.

Presently it is no longer feasible to be a community depending only on the fishing sector. According to the European Commissionair, the European fishing fleet should ideally be decreased with another 40% from the fleet size in October, 1996. Therefore, the REFITOUR project wished to diversify the economic activities in the regions, to create jobs in innovative, non-traditional, but still fishery related, sectors. This was to be done by developing the cooperation between the fishing sector and the tourist sector.

In many local areas in Europe, areas were people still depend on traditional occupations such as fishing, the technological development is currently threatening the traditional crafts and knowledge of the local waters. The REFITOUR project wanted to create a room for the local crafts and knowledge to be kept up - for the benefit of both visitors and inhabitants.

On the Djursland peninsula in Denmark, coastal fishing is, and has been, an important trade. The harbours on Djursland have had a very concrete experience of the structural changes within the fishing sector. Therefore, there is a general interest among the citizens on the Danish peninsula to try out alternative ways for the coastal fishery. The REFITOUR project was supported by a wide variety of interests within e.g. local politics, harbour organisations and educational institutions.

Further, Djursland has unique coastal conditions. Attracted primarily by the beaches and the sea, the number of tourists and attractions offered to these tourists is by now so large that the tourists are no longer choosing what to do, they are selecting what not to do. The Danish internal waters are fairly clean, and around Djursland there is a great variation of bottom topography, vegetation and marine animals. If these conditions are to be maintained, the people need to learn about them. This would primarily be an option for the tourist really interested in the area that they are visiting. It was quite natural for the REFITOUR project to offer this kind of tourist a unique opportunity to learn more about the Danish sea and its resources. Thus, REFITOUR was trying to show one direction within the Danish tourism sector: away from passive, non-thinking consumption of the coastal area, and towards an active, educational visit.

One aspect of diversifying the economic activities is to offer basic education and in-service training for the already trained persons. In Denmark, as in most of the industrialised world, the economy will increasingly be based on skilled work, and in the Danish welfare state these skilled workers do for a large part work in the service sector, e.g. the tourist sector. Thus, REFITOUR placed itself within this general and national development, placing education as a central objective for the project.

The Dingle Peninsula, located in rural southwest Ireland in Co. Kerry, is an area having an exceptional landscape of pastoral hills and high mountains bordered by a seascape of pristine beaches, rocky cliffs and the clean North Atlantic Ocean. Dingle has always had a strong commercial fishing industry and a strong farming industry. In addition, for the past 30 years the area has experienced a steadily increasing number of tourists who traditionally have come to enjoy the scenic beauty and traditional Irish culture of the area.

In the past decade, the number of tourists visiting the area has increased dramatically, now exceeding some 500,000 people per annum. However, along with this increase there has also been a noticeable shift in the type of tourist visiting the area. This shift is characterised by a decrease in the percentage of independent, environmentally and culturally sensitive tourists who would usually stay for several days at a time, to an increase in the percentage of what can be considered as the mass tourist, who typically only stay for one day or less in the area, and who do little to add to either the quality of the overall tourism experience or the economy of the area, except for a few certain businesses. As a result of these trends, over the past few years Dingle has come to learn what many other coastal areas have experienced: that in addition to more tourists, mass tourism also can mean too many cars, too many tour buses, too much noise and pollution, and, most importantly, ever fewer numbers of tourists who are really interested in the traditional culture and values of the area, for example, as are lived out on a daily basis in the commercial fishing or farming sectors. Since the Dingle Harbour Commissioners understand and appreciate some of the negative experiences and general non-compatibility issues which mass tourism has impinged upon commercial activities in other coastal areas, it welcomed the opportunity to gain experience with projected goals and objectives of the REFITOUR project.