Development of regional strategies in ecotourism and cycling is in progress in EcoVeloTour project. Involvement of local stakeholders is a crucial element of the process. The German partner, Tourismusverband Ostbayern e.V. organize a session of workshops to initiate a lively disscussion with regional and local partners, evaluate the status and project a vision of ecotourism in East Bavaria. 

Meeting in East Bavaria Region

The first stakeholder workshop took place on 26. September 2019. Our more than 20 stakeholders are comprised from representatives of governmental institutions, tourism, NGO, public transportation, hospitality business and more.

The goal of the project was confirmed by the stakeholders involved in the workshop:
“Strengthening cycle tourism in East Bavaria as a building block in sustainable tourism, especially in regard of the EuroVelo routes Danube Cycle Path and Iron Curtain Trail.”

The comprehensive findings from the EcoVeloTour documents "Guidelines for ESS-based ecotourism strategy" and "Guidelines for sustainable bicycle tourism" were used as an important basis for fruitful discussions.

The procedure of regional coordination and the involvement of the local partners chosen in the project corresponds to the layout of the "Guidelines for ESS-based ecotourism strategy". During the workshop all stakeholders came to the conclusion that the following steps are required:
1. Assessment of the quality of services along the Danube Cycle Path and the Iron Curtain Trail.
2. Identification of the need for action, probably with the focus on:
-Integration of public transport (bicycle transport)
-Integration of service providers (cyclist-friendly offers)

Also, there was unanimity that a guideline with derived statements for the strengthening of cycling tourism in East Bavaria has to be elaborated. 
The core results of the first stakeholder workshop were summarized as key points of a theses/strategy paper.

The 2nd and 3rd stakeholder workshops will take place on 29th of January 2020 building on outcomes and lessons from the first meeting.