Austria: New tourism flagship projects

At the beginning of June 2023, this year's call for projects for flagship projects on the topic of “Innovative concepts for climate impact adaptation and resilience in tourism” was announced by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Economic Affairs and was open for project submissions until August 16, 2023.

The aim of this funding campaign was to sensitize the domestic tourism industry to the topic of climate change adaptation and resilience in order to develop innovative concepts that take into account the medium and long-term consequences of climate change for tourism. At the end of October, an expert jury selected eight winning projects in a two-stage selection process that best described the planned valorization of tourism through innovative project ideas.

“In order to be one of the most sustainable destinations in the world, in accordance with the requirements of the Tourism Master Plan, it is essential that we continue to intensively address climate change and its effects in tourism. I am therefore particularly pleased that eight submissions to this funding call are rethinking the nature-oriented offering in active tourism. All projects address the challenges and consequences that climate change brings with it and focus on seasonal change through to year-round tourism, as well as on the climate-friendly orientation of regional offerings,” emphasizes Tourism State Secretary Susanne Kraus-Winkler.

The implementation of these eight lighthouse projects is supported by federal tourism funding and funds from the rural development program 2014 - 2020. This year's support for the eight projects amounts to around 0,87 million euros. “Since 2015, the Lighthouse funding campaign has approved 54 funding applications and awarded funding totaling around 8,3 million euros to regional tourism projects,” says Kraus-Winkler.

The lighthouse projects 2023 at a glance:

• The project “Culture & Cycling on the Eisenstraße Upper Austria, Stmk, Lower Austria” of the Steyr Tourism Association and the National Park Region: With the help of the concept for a networked year-round offer “Culture & Cycling” it is intended to succeed in adapting the tourist offer of the cross-state region to climate change to reposition.
• Concept “Climate Impact Adaptation Strategy Wipptal”: This tourism association project is intended to develop a concept for the implementation of four concrete measures for climate change adaptation. For this purpose, the region's existing tourism offerings are critically evaluated and possibilities for self-transformation are derived. The concept is divided into the following areas: information transformation, supply transformation, infrastructure transformation and seasonal transformation.
• “KURT: climate-fit and resilient in the thermal spa and volcano country”: Building on a multidisciplinary competence center, as part of “KURT”, the tourism association initiates a comprehensive discussion, know-how transfer and development process and a guideline for implementing climate-fit and resilient tourism offers developed in the thermal and volcanic region.
• “Julius Kugy Alpine Trail 2.0 – Resilient Hiking Tourism” from the Alpine Association of Carinthia: The Julius Kugy Alpine Trail (hiking path), which opened in 2019, is to be further developed into a lighthouse project for resilient, climate-neutral and sustainable hiking tourism. The concept focuses on the following topics: 1) Creation of a resilient management model for long-distance hiking trails 2) Design of climate-neutral hiking products and 3) Cross-border cooperation.
• “HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? Model development of the Heutal tourism region: Based on this question, the Ionica Mobility association wants to develop a comprehensive data model on regional value creation and tourism in the Heutal region to calculate the maximum utilization or capacities in tourism and subsequently use the Heutal as a model for a year-round Establish a tourism region.
• “OFFLINE VILLAGE 2.0” project: Gargellen Tourismus is developing a health tourism concept that will enable locals and guests to have scientifically based digital balance holiday experiences. In cooperation between research institutes, innovators, tourism and other sectors, as well as with the involvement of the local population, the basis for an innovative, climate-resistant and sustainable year-round tourist offer in the sense of resonance tourism is created.
• Project “Sustainable Use: NEUsiedlersee (NNN)”: A concept for the ecological management of the lake is intended to ensure the unique symbiosis between natural space and local economy for the future. A particularly wide range of tourist offerings should ensure the long-term attractiveness of the lake region.
• Project “Conception of a regional MTB adventure trail network in the Schladming-Dachstein region”: The aim is to develop a low-threshold, cross-community MTB concept for locals and guests. It's about designing paths that can best be compared with cross-country ski trails or premium hiking trails, but in this case are specifically designed for a high-quality, preferably year-round cycling experience.