(Ulm, 29 March 2018) –  Altogether 40 mobility and tourism experts visited the city of Vukovar in Croatia for the fourth partner meeting of the project Transdanube.Pearls on 21-22 March 2018. During the meeting, partners presented the first success stories on the implementation of mobility and tourism services that will improve the possibilities for visitors to travel within and between destinations with the train, bus, bike or ship.

The fourth partner meeting of the project Transdanube.Pearls took place in Vukovar, Croatia from 21-22 March 2018. In this meeting, partners presented the first sustainable mobility and tourism services implemented in the project. The participants of the meeting had the chance to visit a real-life example, namely the regional mobility centre in Vukovar that is expected to start its work this year. The future mobility centre is located at the premises of the existing tourist information centre in Vukovar. In the expanded and newly renovated building trained sustainable mobility managers will advise visitors on the existing mobility and tourism services for exploring the region of Vukovar sustainably. This is the first out of eleven mobility information centers that will be established in the partner regions along the Danube. 

In-between the meeting sessions, project partners also had the chance to explore the city as tourists as they enjoyed a joint cruise on the only solar e-boat on the shores of the Danube, the waterbus called “Bajadera”.

During the session on capacity building, the partners outlined the success of the transnational training course organized in Silistra, Bulgaria in October 2017. Altogether 30 trained sustainable mobility mangers will use the knowledge gained during the training to promote the benefits of sustainable mobility in their regions. Some of the mobility managers already carried out regional trainings in order to spread the word about the concept of sustainable mobility in tourism in their respective region. 58 participants from the transport and tourism sector attended the regional trainings organized by the project partners so far. Further trainings will follow in the next months.

The next landmark event is the Midterm Conference of the project Transdanube.Pearls that will be organized by the Danube Office Ulm/Neu-Ulm and take place in Neu-Ulm, Germany on 11 July. The conference will bring together experts from the sustainable mobility and tourism sector as well as stakeholders from the partners’ regions and provide the opportunity for exchange and cooperation among the participants from the Danube region.

About the Project

The EU-project will last for 2,5 years and is co-funded by the Interreg – Danube Transnational Programme with an overall budget of 2.9 Million Euro. Altogether 15 organizations from 9 European countries and 24 associated strategic partners are participating in the project and thereby, committed themselves to the concept of sustainable mobility in tourism. During
project lifetime each destination will foster sustainable mobility in tourism through a comprehensive set of actions. These include the implementation of mobility information centers and mobility managers, the elaboration of dedicated capacity building measures for local and regional stakeholders and the improvement of information on mobility and tourism for inhabitants and tourists. Additionally, pilot actions on bike rental, carriage, parking systems or cycling paths will be carried out in order to enhance sustainable mobility along the Danube.