Maintaining Dingli’s Sustainable Development Strategy at The Cliffs Centre

The focus of the report entitled ‘Sustainable Development Strategy: Dingli 2020’ has been to set up a policy action plan to establish the concept of sustainability in the day to day practices of the local community at the village of Dingli. The notion of sustainable development set within this document favours a ‘think globally, act locally’ approach.

The idea of setting up an Interpretation Centre is complementary to this strategy for promoting rural tourism in Dingli. In fact, The Cliffs Interpretation Centre, found along Dingli Cliffs in the middle of the largest stretch of protected special areas of conservation, of Natura 2000, has aimed to implement the meaning of interpretation centre,  “that of using different means of communication to enhance the understanding of heritage”[1].

The provision of catering services at the Interpretation Centre is thus a part of a holistic plan to promote Dingli and what it has to offer in a sustainable manner. In fact, the strategy refers to “local traditional food…can form part of an audio-visual culinary experience” (pg. C8-82). 

Financial sustainability is crucial to maintain rural tourism, to which The Cliffs Interpretation Centre complements the strategy. In fact, the strategy mentions that “The most important aspect is that the centre is financially viable. This can be done by the provision of a number of services including serving food, selling information (booklets, leaflets, maps, binoculars, souvenirs, etc.) and displaying and selling traditional local products from Dingli.”

The full strategy, which can be accessed at https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/1434, aims to promote the socio-economic growth of the local community, whilst generating awareness on the environment.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretation_centre