This article forms part of a series of publications under MEDUSA project’s “Mediterranean sub-grant Adventure Tourism Competition” which aims at catalyzing the creation of new innovative adventure tourism products and experiences and upgrading existing products in our partner territories Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Puglia (Italy) and Catalonia (Spain).

Enjoy reading and hope to welcome you soon at one of the wonderful places you will get to know here.

World Wide Fund for Nature – Tunisia, MEDUSA project’s partner in Tunisia, awarded Association Des Sports De Montagne et D'écologie (ASME), the MEDUSA sub-grant.  ASME is a civil society organization (CSO) which has set itself the mission of promoting and developing mountain sports, encouraging the respect of the ecosystem and working for the protection of the environment. The President of ASME, Atef Jnen, spoke in details about the future plans of the organization.

How did you feel after winning the MEDUSA sub-grant?

We were tremendously happy to get the sub-grant as we have worked hard to achieve this. We deeply yearned for the support of civil society organizations to make our dream come true, especially in the field of Adventure tourism since it is a new trend. The fact that we would involve young people in the process and have them benefit from our adventure tourism products was what I found most fascinating. Our wait did not go in vain as we felt very proud of our achievement and responsible for the upcoming steps. The trainings which were given by WWF Tunisia were quite effective and they helped us build our initiative and steered us in the right direction. Also, they showed us different paths to follow and helped us connect with different stakeholders and actors in the region of Ben Arous.

How does your initiative fall under the MEDUSA sub-grants call for application?

Tunisians are mainly interested in climbing activities, and the Rsass Mountain known as ‘Jbal El Rssas’ is one of the main adventure touristic destinations not only for Tunisians but also for many travelers around the Mediterranean and the globe. AMSE was born in 2016 and we had gone through many administrative procedures and the authorization processes but that did not make us back down. Despite the hardships we endured in making our dream come true. Among the activities that we designed is Via Ferrata and this activity has not been implemented yet. We certainly need many certifications, authorizations and capacity building trainings. We will undoubtedly take the same safety and security precautions for the via ferrata as we have for the climbing and zipline activities so far. As we take security and safety measures very seriously; we make 12 fixtures even though only 6 are needed. We invest in security and logistics, which is one of our success factors.

How are youth and women considered beneficiaries?

Women and youth are considered to be minorities, however, in the field of Adventure tourism we notice their full engagement as they work as guides, mentors and Campers. Making our activities accessible to people with disabilities is one of our long-term goals. Especially for those who are visually impaired. That is certainly not an easy task but we aspire to accomplish it.

What are the upcoming steps?

It’s about time this sector should have global exposure. Jbal Rsass is meant to be the second-best destination after Zaghouan Mountain. We will offer a 3-day-circuit with a detail set of itineraries with diversified adventure touristic and culinary activities. In addition, we will issue competitions and championships not only on the local level but also the national and international ones.