VISIBILITY AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

The project is almost six months old and the project partners are working hard on their work packages. In the case of visibility and public relations a lot of tasks have been successfully established or completed. The pictures above and below are showing examples of the "visibility" of the Danube GeoTour at the partners visitor or information centres (on the top from left to right: Geopark Styrian Eisenwurzen, Geopark Idrija and below from left to right: Bakony-Balaton Geopark and  National Park Djerdap). In addition, a Communication Plan has been successfully completed including three key messages we would like to address and use as a guideline for Communication activities:

a) Valorisation of geo-heritage for sustainable and innovative tourism development of Danube Geoparks

b) Danube GeoTour connecting people with geoparks – nature and culture.

c) Innovative GeoProducts within the Danube region – new opportunities to discover Geoparks.

The following reports and press releases are showing the ongoing activities throughout the partners. 

PRESENTING THE DANUBE GEOTOUR AT THE NATIONAL GEOPARKS CONFERENCE OF CZECH REPUBLIC

During the days 24th – 26th of May 2017, 4th Conference of National geoparks of Czech Republic took place in the town of Nová Paka, the Eastern gate of Bohemian Paradise UNESCO Global Geopark. Conference itself was divided into three thematic blocks: “Geoparks for everyone” (focused on disadvantaged visitors), “Interpretation of geological heritage” and “Research and survey in geoparks”. Attendants were able to listen to speeches of prominent Czech experts in fields of sustainable tourism, nature protection and conservation, geological disciplines, archaeology and speleology and to take part in lots of accompanying events, such as “Geo-expo”, excursions in specialized class-room of local gastronomy school, commentated tour through collection of silicified stems of Nová Paka museum and field trips to geological localities of town surroundings. 4th Conference of National geoparks of Czech Republic took place under patronage of Ministry of Environment of Czech Republic, Senate of Parliament of Czech republic, two regional governments and mayor of Nová Paka. During the conference Martina Pásková (chairwoman of National geoparks council of Czech republic and also member of board of directors of Bohemian Paradise geopark and our UNESCO representative) was able to present the Interreg Danube GeoTour project. 

ACTIVITES FOR SETTING UP IDRIJA GEOPARK VISITORS CENTRE

A report from Geopark Idrija:

As part of our activities for setting up the Visitor Centre in the Idrija Geopark we visited some examples of good practice. On Wednesday, June 7, we visited the Seasonal Lakes of Pivka Ecomuseum (Picture 1), the Expo Postojnska jama kras exhibition (Picture 2) and the Karst Museum in Postojna. All three exhibitions showcase similar themes – the Karst, karst features and life in the Karst.  The Seasonal Lakes Ecomuseum is designed as a starting point for lake visits. It offers a great interpretation of how the karst is built, but the lakes – the 17 intermittent lakes of the Pivka River – form the centrepiece of the presentations.  A working team of different experts has set up a very interactive exhibition without any digital devices. The right opposite is the Expo Postojnska jama kras exhibition with more digital devices, different interactive approaches and innovative interpretation methods. It is a great idea to combine the visit to the Postojna Cave with the exhibition where visitors can get more information about the cave as a karst feature, the rocks in the area, and cave animals. They can learn about the history of the cave explorations and see the development of the Postojna Cave as one of the tourist highlights in Slovenia. The exhibition in the Karst Museum was co-financed by the Adriatic IPA Cross-border Co-operation Programme. It is a combination of both classic and innovative museum exhibition with interactive inputs. The curator gave us some useful recommendation about the use of digital devices and interpretation.We ended the excursion with a work meeting.  We looked through the achieved goals and set some dates for further work.

International Communication

In March 2017 the 39th European Geoparks Network Coordination Commitee Meeting at the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark in Ireland took place. During the meeting our Communication Manager Oliver Gulas (Geopark Styrian Eisenwurzen) and Sanja Pellis from the Lead Partner Idrija Geopark had the opportunity to present our Interreg Danube GeoTour Project the almost 70 European Geoparks. We had different opportunities to exchange our ideas and knowledge, met our project partners and Network members from all over Europe.

ASSOCIATED STRATEGIC PARTNERS

Do you know our Associated Strategic Partners ? 
a) The Rokua Geopark from Finnland is sharing experience on GeoProducts and GeoInterpretation with us.

More information: http://www.rokuageopark.fi/

b) The Geopark Naturtejo, Geoparque Mundial da Unesco from Portugal is sharing experience and best practices with us.

More information: http://www.naturtejo.com/

c) The Global Geoparks Network and the European Geoparks Network are providing linkage to the networks, their best practices and development models that will assist the partnership in drafting strategic outputs of the projects.

More information:
http://globalgeoparksnetwork.org/
http://www.europeangeoparks.org
 

Announcement: Next Project Meeting in Austria

At the end of September the project team is meeting agian for the second SCOM Meeting at the Geopark Styrian Eisenwurzen in Austria. One training is taking place at the second Austrian project partner the cross-boarder Geopark Karawanken-Karavanke.

Check us out on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danubegeotour/  

#danubegeotour

Project co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA)

Copyright Photos regarding the whole newsletter: Geopark Styrian Eisenwurzen, Geopark Idrija, Bakony-Balaton Geopark, National Park Djerdap, Geopark Bohemian Paradise