OURWAY Final Conference – SAVE THE DATE! | European Greenways Association

OURWAY Final Conference “Greenways, a must to sustainable tourism’

Tourism is today among the top priorities of the European political agenda as tourism ecosystem was the hardest hit by the pandemic. We have seen the launching of the Transition pathway for tourism and we look forward to know more about the European Agenda for Tourism 2030/2050 in order to support the green and digital transitions of the European tourism and strengthen its competitiveness.

The Interreg Europe project “OURWAY: Preservation and promotion of cultural and natural heritage through Greenways” comes to an end and the project partners believe that the results can contribute significantly to the new European Agenda on Tourism and, in particular, to the conservation, protection, promotion and development of European natural and cultural heritage through the use of Greenways. To this end, the Project consortium has worked to improve public policies related to the cultural and natural quality of the territories involved, in particular Tourism, as a hugely important policy for our regions’ sustainable economic, social and environmental development.

We would like to share with all of you the results of our project and reflect together about the input into the new European Agenda for tourism.

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE for the OUR WAY Final Conference Greenways, a must to sustainable tourism’ that will be held on 28^th September 2022, at the European Committee of the Regions, in Brussels.

Program

9:00-9:15 ARRIVAL OF PARTICIPANTS

9:15-9:30 INSTITUTIONAL WELCOME AND OUR WAY PROJECT PRESENTATION

Mr. Adrián Zittelli, General Director of European Union Affairs of the Region de Murcia

9.30 – 9:45 INTERREG EUROPE 2021-2027: NEW OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

Mr. Erwin Siweris, Programme director Interreg Europe

9:50 – 11:00 ROUND TABLE: GREENWAYS AT THE HEART OF THE EUROPEAN AGENDA FOR TOURISM

Moderation

Mr. Giulio Senes, European Greenways association – President

European Commission: Setting the scene: EU Transition pathway for tourism. Ms. Marie-Hélène Pradine, DG Grow Head of Unit

NecsTour: Sustainable mobility as a way forward for the Tourism Governance Inspiration by the Regions of Europe. Mr.Tomaso Comazzi, Communication and Membership Manager

Girona Greenways and Pirinexus: Greenways as a tool of territorial development. Ms. Noemí Piris Hernandez, Promotion Officer of the Consorci de les Vies Verdes de Girona

Eurochambres: The role of private sector in the development of European greenways. Mr. Florian Schmalz, Policy Advisor for Sustainability

European Greenways Association (EGWA): Promotion of European greenways as a touristic destination. Case study of Ireland. Mr. Michael Fitzsimons, Manager Product Development Activities, Fáilte Ireland

11:00-11:30 COFFEE BREAK

11:30-12.30 OUR WAY, A CONTRIBUTION IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF TERRITORIES

Moderation

Mrs. Cristina Durán, Head of Service of European Union Affairs of the Region de Murcia

Speaker

One representative of each OUR WAY region

12:30-12:45 EVENT CLOSING

Mr. Adrián Zittelli, General Director of European Union Affairs of the Region de Murcia

Mrs. Mercedes Muñoz, Director of the European Greenways Association

Mrs. Dorota Tomalak, Deputy Head of Unit NAT Commission – Committee of the Regions

12:45-14:15 LUNCH COR Atrium 5 – 5th floor

=> Download the programme here

About the OurWay Actions Plans >> A CONTRIBUTION IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF TERRITORIES

The presentations of the project partners include a brief reference to their starting situation and the achievements made thanks to the project; also the “headlines” of the actions included in their respective Action Plans, and the next steps. These Plans will benefit the local population and economy, and will help to attract new domestic and international visitors interested in green and sustainable tourism.

Actions Plans are linked to the partners’ competences, capacity for action, interest, and ambition. The APs plans of the project partners aim to improve the preservation and promotion of cultural and natural heritage through Greenways with regard to:

Governance,
Promotion
Funding

The six APs of the territories involved in the project include actions in all the above-mentioned areas. They are linked to the partners’ competences, capacity for action, and/or their capacity to influence stakeholders with whom they have been collaborating throughout the process, that have already and will carried out some of the proposed actions, as well as their commitment and interest.

=> The study visits have been essential, since have allowed partners and stakeholders to experience first-hand in the field the great advantages of greenways and to motivate them to implement new policies for the promotion of cultural and natural heritage through greenways and non-motorised routes, for cycling and walking.

=> Thanks to the learning process a significant knowledge and increase of the interest in the use of the “greenways” have been achieved in all the territories represented, due to the great opportunities that these safe non-motorized routes have to enhance the cultural and natural heritage.

=> The impact of the Ourway APs in the future will depend, of course, on the continuity and involvement of the partners and stakeholders, but we are confident that the process of improvement and extension of the network of greenways and non-motorised routes will follow in a reinforced way.

=> The partners are well aware of the importance of these non-motorised pathways as a way to improve the conservation and promotion of natural and cultural resources, while creating better environments to improve the quality of life of the people living in these territories. The partners have confirmed their unequivocal willingness to give continuity and to extend the actions over time, based on cooperation with stakeholders, which is essential to ensure sustainability, and further enhance the success of the project.

=> We hope that they will also be able to find the necessary funding so that the plans drawn up in the Action Plans can actually be implemented as soon as possible.

An overview of the main results of the partners’ Action Plans is given in the article OurWay Steering Committee (27-28 April. Vratsa, (Bulgaria), with some updates which are included below.

During these months there has been progress on two of the actions included in two of the action plans, which will allow the actual implementation of these actions, which were not guaranteed when the partners presented the situation of the plans in Vratsa a few months ago. These are very positive news we learned in the last meeting:

The plan of Botev-Route (Vratsa, Bulgaria) to implement a thematic route for walking and cycling, which was pending of approval, has finally been approved.
Also the action “Treasures of Hortobágy” Greenway, (Hungary) with the integration of the required 3rd municipality has been launched; new municipalities are also interested in this action.