INTERREG Austria-Bavaria 2014-2020 – Small project IV-03 – Danube impressions flowing without borders
Boundless flowing Danube impressions
Description of the project:
Initial situation:
The Danube valley was discovered by cruise ships as a new destination! Thus new challenges and adaptations are facing the tourism organisations. The main actors in the Upper Danube Valley are the Werbegemeinschaft Donau Oberösterreich Tourismus GmbH as operator of the moorings, as well as the Verein Kultur an der Donau im Markt Engelhartszell and the Haus am Strom in the district of Passau, which offer joint shore excursions for crusaders.
Project objectives:
Together they are looking for possibilities to meet the requirements of the cruise ship shipping companies. This requires close cooperation between the aforementioned players, as the guests of the cruise ships do not perceive individual locations but the Bavarian/Upper Austrian Danube Valley as a whole. In order to reach these target groups, joint measures are to be taken that will have a long-term and sustainable effect. Specifically planned are the use of a panorama camera in HD quality on the respective websites, the development of joint products (shore excursion programmes) and the joint implementation of cruise tourism products (shore excursions).
Project content:
A joint marketing offensive is planned to present the offer for crusaders on the Internet, which will use a panorama camera to deliver pictures and films from the Upper Austrian-Bavarian Danube Valley near Engelhartszell to the respective websites of the project partners and thus to the homepage visitors of all partners. The innovative technology of this panorama camera in HD quality is exclusively used by the project participants (minimum service life of five years). The resulting images will be used to develop and produce a joint brochure for shore excursions in this section of the Danube, which will be made available to the cruise shipping companies. Jointly produced pictures or videos at about 20-25 selected hotspots are another possibility to bring the Danube border region close to the target group in a long-term and sustainable way.
What is the cross-border added value of the project?
The Upper Austrian-Bavarian Danube Valley is represented as a unit and perceived by the target group of crusaders through the uniform presentation via the panorama camera. The jointly developed shore excursion programmes will be used jointly by the project partners for efficient use at trade fairs and cruise events.
How should the long-term (institutional) cross-border cooperation of the project executing organisations be ensured?
Even after the end of the project, the project participants will continue to work together in the field of Danube cruise shipping and present their services on their websites via the panorama camera. The offer of the shore excursion programmes will remain and will be regularly adapted in cooperation with the project participants. As the tourism association Engelhartszell will be dissolved in the foreseeable future due to the new Upper Austrian tourism law, the association “Kultur an der Donau” will take over various local tourist functions. Cooperation in cross-border projects is one of the association’s idealistic activities and is anchored in its statutes. The project is financed by the association “Kultur an der Donau in Engelhartszell (40%), WGD Donau Oberösterreich Tourismus GmbH (40%) and Haus am Strom gGmbH (20%). The support and maintenance of the panorama camera during its useful life is provided by the association “Kultur an der Donau”. Further joint measures that will be necessary in the future in connection with cruise ships in the Upper Danube Valley are being considered. An extension of the cooperation beyond the existing partners (neighbouring communities) is possible and desirable. Some points in the project Donauengtal discover, e.g. nature reserves Donauleiten and Natura 2000 areas can be best mediated by the new technology of this panorama camera.
The small project IV-03 – Borderless Danube Impressions is funded by the European Union – European Fund for Regional Development!
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