RISTOR - Rural Innovation Centers for Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism
RISTOR connects communities across borders to build innovative, inclusive, and
environmentally conscious tourism in East Zagori and Korçë.
About the Project
RISTOR brings together five partners from Greece and Albania (Municipality of Zagori, Municipality of Korça, Observatory for Children and Youth Rights, P2P Lab and Impact Hub Labs), to address shared challenges in East Zagori (GR) and Korçë (AL)—regions rich in culture and nature, yet underdeveloped compared to neighbouring destinations. By revitalising two disused municipal buildings in Demati and Dardha, the project will create two accessible Centres for Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism.
Rooted in the values of the New European Bauhaus, RISTOR brings together sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics in rural regeneration and tourism development. The restoration of the two buildings will respect local architecture, traditional building methods, and the cultural identity of each place, demonstrating how green transition, cultural heritage, innovation, and people-centred design can coexist.
Once launched, the centres will act as collaborative, cross-border spaces where local communities, professionals and visitors can meet, build their skills, share knowledge and design the future of sustainable tourism in their regions, utilising up to date resources and business methods, with respect to local practices and the environment.
They will host training programmes, incubation services, and networking activities tailored to local needs. Programming will promote diverse, inclusive forms of tourism : cultural, rural, agro-, adventure, family-friendly and engage youth, women, families, creatives, and small-scale producers as both beneficiaries and co-creators.
By embedding social innovation into public infrastructure, RISTOR repositions these villages as year-round destinations rooted in cultural identity, sustainability, and accessibility. Over 100 local professionals will be trained, 30+ new offerings developed, and 2,500+ visitors engaged annually.
RISTOR will create a digital community of professionals in Greece and Albania. We will utilise social media channels to keep the community active, through promoting opportunities and cross-border open dialogue.
Ultimately, RISTOR the project creates a cross-border environmental and cultural continuum and demonstrates how adaptive reuse, community empowerment, and cross-border cooperation can breathe new life into rural areas.
Revitalize rural spaces through adaptive reuse
Promote sustainable, inclusive tourism
Empower local communities through training and collaboration
Strengthen cross-border cooperation and innovation
Municipality of Zagori – Greece
As the lead partner of the RISTOR project, the Municipality of Zagori ensures overall coordination, strategic oversight, and alignment with regional development priorities. It facilitates smooth collaboration across all partners and anchors the project within local governance structures. At the implementation level, it is responsible for the infrastructure renovation in the village of Demati, transforming a vacant municipal building into a fully accessible Centre for Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism.
The Municipality guarantees that the design and execution of the works respect traditional architecture, environmental sustainability, and community needs. It also mobilises local actors, connects the Centre to existing cultural and tourism initiatives, and works to secure the Centre’s long-term integration into local development strategies
Municipality of Korça – Albania
The Municipality of Korça leads the infrastructure development and restoration of the Sustainable Tourism Centre in Dardha, working closely with local stakeholders to ensure the building reflects traditional architectural techniques and community needs.
Alongside the Municipality of Zagori, it contributes to the overall coordination of project implementation on the ground, facilitating local participation, ensuring alignment with public strategies, and embedding the centre within the broader development plans of the region. Its active involvement ensures strong local ownership and long-term sustainability of the initiative.
P2P Lab – Greece
P2P Lab leads the design and integration of accessibility features for both Centres, ensuring that the spaces are inclusive and responsive to diverse user needs. It develops and delivers tailored training and support on inclusivity and accessibility for the local SMEs and initiatives participating in the project.
Drawing on its strong local presence and expertise in community-based innovation, P2P Lab ensures that sustainability and social equity are embedded in both the infrastructure and the services developed through RISTOR.
Observatory for Children and Youth Rights – Albania
The Observatory ensures that inclusion, and family-friendly design are core to the project. Drawing on its extensive experience in child- and family-centred programming, it leads stakeholder engagement in Korça, helps tailor activities to the needs of underrepresented groups, and facilitates the design of participatory tourism services.
Impact Hub Athens – Greece
Impact Hub Labs drives the entrepreneurial and innovation dimension of the project. It supports the development of each Centre as a hub for sustainable tourism services, leads capacity-building and community activation, and strengthens digital and cross-border connectivity. It also fosters synergies with wider European networks, ensuring visibility, impact, and replicability.
Two Centers, One Shared Vision
Center in Demati (East Zagori, Greece)
Restoration respecting traditional architecture / Focus: eco-tourism, rural innovation
Center in Dardha (Korçë, Albania)
Reuse of a municipal building / Focus: cultural and family-friendly tourism
RISTOR aims to
Revitalise
We breathe new life into underused community buildings by renovating them into accessible, eco-friendly centres that celebrate local architecture and serve local needs.
Create
Each centre becomes a dynamic space where tourism professionals, residents, creatives, and visitors can meet, share ideas and co-create new tourism experiences.
Promote
We run training programmes, workshops, and incubation services that support local businesses and help people develop skills in cultural, rural, agro-, adventure, accessible and family-friendly tourism.
Strengthen
We connect people across borders, communities, entrepreneurs, researchers, and institutions, to build a shared vision for inclusive economic growth, sustainability, and resilient local economies.
We will achieve these aims through
Training programs
skill-building for tourism professionals
Incubation services
support for local entrepreneurship and tourism ventures
Networking activities
connecting communities and stakeholders
Thematic focus
cultural, rural, agro-, adventure, accessible and inclusive and family-friendly tourism
2 fully equipped Centers for
Inclusive Tourism
Over 150 local professionals trained
30+ new tourism offerings developed
50–80 new jobs in each region
2,500+ visitors engaged annually across both centres
The Partners
Municipality of Zagori
The Municipality of Zagori was created under the “Kallikrates” programme, by merging the former Municipalities of Central Zagori, East Zagori, Tymfi and the former Communities of Papigko and Vovousa.
Spreading over an area of 989.8 square kilometers, the Municipality of Zagori is the largest in Epirus and one of the five most sparsely populated in the country compared to the population, with 3.8 inhabitants per square km.
Municipality of Korça
The Municipality of Korça has an area of 805.99 km2. This municipality consists of 8 administrative units. The new municipality has under its administration one city and 62 villages. Several rural areas dealing with agriculture and livestock, as well as some of the most prominent tourist villages, were annexed to the Municipality of Korça.
Observatory for Children and Youth Rights
Observatory for children’s rights experience is introduced for the first time in the Albanian society, and it aims to function as an observer structure, based on local level, regarding the implementation and realization of children rights, by acting and supporting as part of civil society.
P2P Lab
The P2P Lab is an independent media lab interested in interdisciplinary research on free and open-source technologies and peer-to-peer practices.
Impact Hub Athens
Impact Hub Athens is part of a world network of a community of impact makers. With a physical space and community for 1000+ social innovators our focus is to build communities for impact.
Press Room
The life in the mountain peaks of Pindus: the case of a very small village in East Zagori
Efsyn highlights the RISTOR project in the context of life in one of the smallest and most remote mountain communities of the Pindus. The article reflects on depopulation and isolation, while pointing to emerging pathways for resilience through local action and European cooperation.
Life in the Albanian Mountains: How cross-border cooperation is shaping rural resilience
Τhe article by Efsyn features the RISTOR project as part of a broader discussion on cross-border collaboration in the Greece–Albania mountain region. It highlights how European cooperation and local initiatives contribute to addressing depopulation, strengthening rural economies, and preserving cultural and environmental heritage.
Greece: Life at the Edge of the High Mountains
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa highlights the realities and opportunities of mountain communities in the Greece-Albania border region,...
Life in the Albanian Mountains: A Tale of Two Villages
RISTOR was recently featured in an article by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa, exploring how mountain communities in Greece and Albania are addressing depopulation and building new opportunities through cross-border cooperation and sustainable local development.
Two neighbouring counties and regions, one common vision for sustainable and inclusive tourism
From 24 to 28 May, RISTOR’s five partners from Greece and Albania brought together the local communities in the two regions to explore what sustainable and inclusive tourism means to them, map the challenges and opportunities ahead, as well as the existing ecosystem in the two areas respectively and co-design how the rural innovation centers should operate once they are launched.
Omorfa Taxidia Highlights Interreg-RISTOR
Omorfa Taxidia recently featured the Interreg–RISTOR programme, in which Impact Hub Athens participates, showcasing its work to revitalize two mountainous villages in Greece and Albania.
RISTOR Project Kick-off Meeting Held in Zagori
Two Innovation Hubs for Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism in Zagori and Dardhë through Interreg-RISTOR
Athens, 18 December 2025 – Two mountainous villages, Demati in Zagori and Dardhë in Albania, which experienced intense out-migration and partial depopulation during the 20th century, are becoming the focal point of a new initiative aimed at revitalising local communities through sustainable tourism.
From depopulation to innovation: Greece and Albania join forces to revive mountainous villages
Two Innovation Hubs for Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism in Zagori and Dardhë through Interreg-RISTOR
Athens, 18 December 2025 – Two mountainous villages, Demati in Zagori and Dardhë in Albania, which experienced intense out-migration and partial depopulation during the 20th century, are becoming the focal point of a new initiative aimed at revitalising local communities through sustainable tourism.
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Project co-funded by the European Union and National Funds of Greece and Albania via the Interreg (VI-A) IPA “Greece-Albania 2021-2027” Cross-Border Cooperation Programme