Highlighting the touristic potential of natural areas along the Danube River and developing them in a sustainable way: This can only be done in a partnership of the Protected Area administrations with the tourism industry. Both bring in their specific expertise in market know-how or respect for nature.
A new project, financed by the Danube Competence Center and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), will help to develop and promote cross-border offers in nature tourism. It runs for 18 months and includes capacity-building, product development, and marketing.
Four pilot regions are targeted by product development:
- The Delta and Lower Prut region, encompassing Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine
- The Bulgarian-Romanian border stretch
- The Iron Gate region, including Serbia and Romania
- The trilateral area at the Central Danube, covering Protected Areas in Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia
A first capacity-building workshop on product development took place on December 10th-11th in Budapest. Representatives from 11 Protected Areas in 7 Danube countries took part in it. Based on the gained know-how, Protected Areas from the same cross-border regions are now getting in contact with incoming tour-agencies, regional tourism associations, and other stakeholders.
