CAPITEN and the health crisis: the impacts

Partners remain on course !

The CAPITEN project should have come to an end on 30 November 2020… But that was before the COVID-19 health crisis hit!

In order to allow projects to postpone the actions planned during the spring lockdown periods, the Managing Authority of the Atlantic Area programme granted an automatic six-month extension, thus bringing the CAPITEN project to a close on 31 May 2021 instead of 30 November 2020.

Impact on the action plan

Faced with the constraints caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the CAPITEN project partners have made adjustments in order to continue to implement the proposed action plan.  The biannual partnership meetings organised by the Regional Council of Brittany at the beginning of December 2020 provided an opportunity to take stock of the overall progress of the project’s achievements.

Although the various health and lockdown measures have delayed and/or altered the implementation of certain actions, the partners have on the whole been able to stay on course and have adapted remarkably well.  While the CAPITEN project focuses on themes related to the tourism economy, which has been particularly affected by the health crisis, the actions implemented by the partners have been highly successful and support the main objective of the project: to show that the Atlantic Area is a major nautical destination.

In particular, it is worth mentioning several actions aimed at enhancing sailing itineraries for tourists, and the development of digital tools that not only promote tourist sites but also make them accessible to all audiences (virtual reality visits to lighthouses, for example).  All information on these actions are available & update on the website www.capiten.eu

Project partners

During this period, the Regional Council of Brittany, lead partner of the project, has maintained a constant relationship with all the partners in order to monitor the developments and impacts of the health crisis on the actions of the project, but also on the organisation and financial health of the partners.

Although the action plan will be completed on the whole, several partners have encountered financial difficulties directly attributable to the economic consequences of the health crisis.

As soon as one partner reported difficulties, the Regional Council of Brittany contacted the Managing Authority of the Atlantic Area programme in order to study all possible solutions to help this partner.

Despite this, to date the Spanish partner CETECIMA (Las Palmas, Canary Islands) will not be able to carry out all its actions, and will continue its involvement in the project by monitoring the implementation of the work carried out by the other partners.  CETECIMA is therefore not leaving the ship, but is forced to considerably reduce its sail area.

The closing event of the project which will take place on 8 and 9 April 2021 by video will be the occasion to present all the achievements of the project!  More information will be available soon on www.capiten.eu