Danube GeoTour Plus

Danube GeoTour Plus builds on established collaboration of 9 geopark partners of diverse institutional background, 2 research and education partners and 18 ASPs. Results of the previous project indicate new trends that embrace the geoparks’ future and still untapped heritage potential. Depopulation of rural areas, marginalisation of certain resident groups, signs of increased tourism demand on hidden heritage gems, and on the other side, competence, management, product and visitor infrastructure gaps raise the key CHALLENGES in front of the Danube geoparks. Their rural territories encompass 416 municipalities in 9 countries over a surface of 14,601 km2. During the last decade, geoparks have lost 6% of the population and increased visits by 77%, from 317 000 to 562 000. The project thus AIMS to capitalise and further exploit the recently developed common Danube GeoTour tourism product, its vast heritage potential and existing geopark territorial development model so as to enhance the sustainable tourism opportunities of remote rural communities and to become more inclusive and appreciated by residents and visitors, making their products more valuable and natural and cultural assets managed in a more balanced and sustainable manner. To achieve this, the UNESCO geopark territorial development APPROACH will be upgraded with inclusive, innovative and tailor-made solutions in product value design and visitor management, jointly tested and applied in participating geoparks. This shall result in the following: • ENGAGEMENT of vulnerable groups into geopark structures, products and services further to a common engagement strategy and 9 action plans, motivated by new opportunities offered by geoparks and cross-border peer exchanges; • VALUE GENERATION for local SMEs and raising employment opportunities for vulnerable groups by piloting 9 GeoExperiences as a new participative product development model and functional part of a top-end segment of the Danube GeoTour product and its future cooperation platform; • BALANCED VISITOR MANAGEMENT based on developed and verified common visitor monitoring solutions for routes, hot spots and larger territories, joint analytical tools and initial visitor redistribution measures. Intense transnational cooperation in these, for Danube geoparks and similar territories important change processes, will significantly improve competences of all 29 participating organisations coming from 8 member and 3 non-member states, in the field of inclusive integrated territorial development, product (experience) innovation management and smart visitor monitoring. Danube GeoTour Plus is thus not just another transnational tourism product but it is a path into a collaborative platform that will, after the project closure, assure future sustainability of the Danube GeoTour product and enable permanent networking of the Danube geoparks for common, more sustainable and inclusive territorial goals. Total budget: 2.288.015,00 EUR