On the 11th of December 2020, the second Hungarian Stakeholder Group Meeting took place online with the aim of discussing the good practices identified in the topic of cycling tourism.
The extraordinary circumstances brought by the COVID-19 pandemic require a different form of preparation from the partners: to support the presenters of the online study visit to be organized next week, local stakeholders evaluated the good practices previously shared, as well as collected the questions emerged.
Tibor POLGÁR, strategic director at West Pannon Nonprofit Ltd. kicked-off the event by presenting the progress of the EU CYCLE project, highlighting the measures taken due to the pandemic.
After the general introduction, the groupwork on the three good practices began:
• Cycling route of the Apulian Aqueduct;
• Sustainable mobility along EuroVelo13, the Iron Curtain Trail;
• Krka Bike: 470 km of cycle routes through Croatia’s Krka National Park.
Several questions have been formalized during the discussion: what motivates a national park to start developing cycling-related services and products? How can they be operated? How the different practices have been financed? How visitors can be controlled? What about measuring the results?
After having the good practices discussed, attendees got an insight on the recent cycling developments carried out by the participating organizations: Béla NÉMETH, project manager at GYSEV Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurth Railway summarized the improvements in B+R capacities and other touristic developments, as well as Bernadett SALI, project manager at the Self-Government Office of Vas County presented the results of the Interreg V-A AT-HU VeloRegio project.
In conclusion, participants expressed their hope that the successful cooperation of regional and national actors will continue in the future and EU CYCLE will support the efficiency and effectiveness of the network established in the recent years.
