CE-SustaInTour
Central Europe's rural border regions are home to numerous long-distance cycling routes connecting valuable natural and cultural heritage sites. These routes have significant potential to contribute to sustainable tourism and local economic development. However, the quality, sustainability and accessibility of cross-border tourism services vary considerably between regions, while institutional and regulatory frameworks also differ from country to country. A particular challenge is that the needs of senior travellers and persons with disabilities are not yet adequately addressed in the development of tourism services and long-distance cycling tourism products.
The CE-SustaInTour project aims to strengthen regional cooperation and tourism governance to make tourism in rural border regions more sustainable and inclusive. Building on the results and tools developed through previous Interreg projects, CE-SustaInTour combines and further develops existing solutions to support local and regional authorities, destination management organisations (DMOs), tourism service providers and other stakeholders in the joint management of cross-border tourism destinations.
Project activities will be implemented in three pilot areas along international cycling routes: the Hungarian–Croatian–Slovenian section of the Amazon of Europe Bike Trail, the cross-border areas along the Iron Curtain Trail – EuroVelo 13, and the Polish–German section of the Baltic Sea Cycle Route – EuroVelo 10.
The main objectives of the project are to:
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Establish transborder networks of experts, strengthen the capacities of tourism stakeholders, and develop three joint Transborder Action Plans to promote more sustainable and inclusive tourism;
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Develop and test a joint Sustainability and Inclusivity Measurement System (SIMS) to assess the environmental sustainability, accessibility, inclusivity, economic impacts and cross-border dimensions of tourism products;
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Pilot-test SIMS in the three target areas, followed by the wider transfer and integration of the developed methods and solutions into tourism management practices across Central European regions.
As a result of the project, the participating regions will benefit from jointly applicable methodologies and governance solutions that can help make cross-border cycling and nature-based tourism offers more sustainable, accessible and competitive.
Westpannon Regional and Economic Development Public Nonprofit Ltd. coordinates the development and pilot testing of SIMS across the three pilot areas and leads activities aimed at transferring the project results to a wider range of stakeholders. The organisation also actively contributes to establishing the expert network, implementing capacity-building activities and developing the Transborder Action Plan for the Iron Curtain Trail – EuroVelo 13 area.
Project partnership
Lead Partner: Geodetic Institute of Slovenia / Geodetski inštitut Slovenije (Slovenia)
PP2: Westpannon Regional and Economic Development Public Nonprofit Ltd. / Nyugat-Pannon Terület- és Gazdaságfejlesztési Szolgáltató Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft. (Hungary)
PP3: Pomorskie Tourist Board (Poland)
PP4: CROST Regional Development Nonprofit Ltd. / CROST Területfejlesztési Nonprofit Kft. (Hungary)
PP5: Koprivnica Križevci County / Koprivničko-križevačka županija (Croatia)
PP6: National Council of Disability Organizations of Slovenia / Nacionalni svet invalidskih organizacij Slovenije (Slovenia)
Facts and figures
Full project title: CE-SustaInTour – Integrated governance solutions for inclusive and sustainable tourism in rural transborder areas
Funding programme: Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE 2021–2027
Programme priority: A better cooperation governance
Specific objective: SO4.1 – Strengthening governance for integrated territorial development in central Europe
Project duration: October 2026 – September 2028 (24 months)
Total project budget: €1,169,140
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) contribution: €935,312 (80%)
Westpannon's total project budget: €197,400
ERDF contribution to Westpannon: €157,920
Project ID: CE0401387
Documents
The professional documents and results developed within the project are available on the official Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE project website:
https://www.interreg-central.eu/projects/ce-sustaintour/
The participation of the Hungarian project partners is co-financed by the Hungarian State.
Responsible
Bejczy Delinke
