2,3 million € for cooperation on developing tourism strategies for more attractive destinations in the Danube Region

Environment and culture responsible Danube Region is one of the four priority axes of the Danube Transnational Programme. The cooperation strengthens approaches to preserve and manage the diversity of natural and cultural assets in the Danube Region as a basis for sustainable development and growth strategies.

Fourteen partners from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia have launched the INSiGHTS project – “Integrated Slow, Green and Healthy Tourism Strategies”. The partnership is led by Pons Danubii European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation from Komárno, Slovakia. The 30-months long project (January 2017 – June 2019) was approved within the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). The main goal of the Danube Transnational Programme is to develop coordinated policies and actions in the programme area reinforcing the commitments of the Europe 2020 strategy towards the three dimensions of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

The kick-off meeting and public launching event of the INSiGHTS project took place on the 27th and 28th February 2017 in Tata, Hungary hosted by Pons Danubii European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation. More than 80 participants were present at the public event at Pikant Pajta in Ferencmajor. Sustainable touristic development in Tata and Komárom-Esztergom County in northwestern Hungary was presented by the mayor of Tata József Michl, the state secretary from the Hungarian Ministry of Justice dr. Pál Völner and the representative of the Hungarian Parliament János Bencsik.

Gusztáv Csomor, representative of the Danube Transnational Programme, congratulated the lead partner and the consortium for the successful start of the project and highlighted the main objectives and structure of the new Danube Transnational Programme. Director of Pons Danubii, Zoltán Bara presented the INSiGHTS project and its main characteristics. Current trends in green tourism were explained by prof. Ulrike Pröbstl-Haider from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) from Vienna, knowledge provider partner in the INSiGHTS project.

The INSiGHTS project is about finding solutions for making regions more attractive to tourists by developing tourism strategies that keep in the focus the protection of natural and cultural resources. Regions in INSiGHTS all have outstanding natural and cultural resources, and at the same time they have a great potential related to the fast-growing recreational trend of slow, green and healthy tourism.

Partners will be working in close cooperation with stakeholders in eight regions to gain relevant local feedback on the current situation of tourism and also ideas and proposals for new opportunities for slow, green and healthy tourism. There will be eight integrated sustainable tourism strategies developed by the partner regions and they will be adaptable all across the Danube Region. The expected outcomes in partner regions will be: smart card system, new tourism packages, trail guide applications, eco-education related new tourism services encouraging environmentally friendly healthy living, slow tourism networking offering recreational programmes, cycling infrastructures, and sustainable tourism model for rural and urban areas.

For more information about the INSiGHT project please visit: www.interreg-danube.eu/insights


List of partners in INSiGHTS project:

Lead partner:
- Pons Danubii European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (Slovakia)

ERDF co-funded partners:
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Austria)
- Institute for Tourism (Croatia)
- CEEweb for Biodiversity (Hungary)
- Development Centre of the Heart of Slovenia (Slovenia)
- Harghita County Council (Romania)
- Zala County Government (Hungary)
- Local Action Group “Central Istria” (Croatia)
- Regional Development Agency with Business Support Centre for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Bulgaria)
- Donautal-Aktiv e.V. (Germany)

IPA co-funded partner:
- Regional Economic Development Agency for Šumadija and Pomoravlje (Serbia)

Associated Strategic partners:
- Plovdiv District Administration (Bulgaria)
- Istrian Region – Administrative Department for Tourism (Croatia)
- Komárom-Esztergom County (Hungary)

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