In the context of a four-day German-Polish conference, this year's Tourism Day took place on Tuesday, June 13 in Frankfurt (Oder).
There the first résumés of the German-Polish "Odra Velo" project could be drawn and looked back on joint successes. As a special and connecting element of our travel region lakeland Oder-Spree on the German side and the voivodeship Lubuskie on the Polish side is the border river Oder. Within the framework of the "Odra Velo" - project, whose funding period began in 2019 and ends at the end of June this year, a productive networking with the Lubuskie Voivodeship took place.
The focus of the German-Polish cooperation was on expanding the tourism topics of cycling and digitization. The result of the cooperation on the Polish side is the development of a cycle path concept. As the only travel region in Brandenburg and the new federal states, the Oder-Spree Lake District was once again able to be certified as a cycling travel region by the German Cyclists' Club (ADFC). The official seal identifies regions that have taken on the sustainable planning of their cycle paths and have pushed ahead with the tourist offer tailored to them over the years. The Polish partners have also developed an APP that can be used for cross-border cycle route planning. The tourism association Seenland Oder-Spree is currently working on the creation of a German-Polish excursion planner. In a handy brochure numerous hiking and biking tours along the five bridges are recommended to guests as well as locals, which are on the German or Polish side of the Oder, attractively described and illustrated. Furthermore, work is currently still being done on a Polish Internet presence of the Oder-Spree lake district.
Another major milestone of this project can be mentioned as the erection and installation of 210 digital information devices. These include large outdoor pillars in public spaces, smaller information pillars or tablets in tourist-relevant facilities such as tourist information offices, cultural institutions, hotels, catering establishments, campsites, civic meeting places and leisure facilities. Users of the digital devices receive tips for excursions, restaurants and events, for example. The software is fed from databases used throughout Brandenburg. With the support of its tourism partners, Seenland Oder-Spree e.V. maintains all of the region's data on a daily basis. This currently includes 4884 data records, 642 of which are tours. Thus interested guests as well as native ones have the possibility Information, for example to overnight accomodation possibilities, objects of interest, wheel and moving routes, meetings as well as gastronomic Einkehripps to receive, always up-to-date and around the clock. At the same time, the data is also played out on various regional and Brandenburg-wide websites (e.g. www.reiseland-brandenburg.de), on the "DB Excursions App" or on "ADAC Trips".
"We know that the German-Polish border region holds great tourism potential. Crossing a border river and exploring two European countries during one day of excursion has, in our opinion, a special attraction for many people. Due to the good cooperation and productive results of recent years, the cooperation with our Polish partners should be continued in the next funding period," said the Chairman of Seenland Oder-Spree e.V. Rainer Schinkel.
Under the heading "nature tourism", the lakeland Oder-Spree with its partners and sub-regions has set out in recent years to reposition the themes of cycling, hiking and water. For this purpose, premium trails and tours were defined, lead products developed and marketed.
In a LEADER project (LAG Oderland in cooperation with the LAG Märkische Seen), an experience space concept for the Oder-Spree Lake District is to be developed by the summer of 2024, which is to be defined on the one hand overall and on the other hand in the seven subregions (Flusslandschaft Spree and Flusslandschaft Oder, Oderbruch, Schlaubetal, Märkische Schweiz, Scharmützelsee and Berliner Umland). As a pilot project, seven selected premium trails are currently being designed together with local partners as access points to our cultural and landscape area with the help of special stories and experiences and are being developed for marketing purposes. In the long term, the profile of our destination is to be sharpened and the external perception improved.
The Oder-Spree Lake District has a lot planned for the next few years and has set itself ambitious goals. To achieve them, it needs a strong network.
"The tourism companies must be strengthened. Destination management in the Oder-Spree lake district faces major challenges such as the shortage of skilled workers, changing guest behavior or climate change. Tourism contributes significantly to the quality of life of the local population, so a further development and strengthening of our travel region and the support of our service providers with the help of our offers is essential," summarizes Ellen Russig, Managing Director of Seenland Oder-Spree e.V. on the sidelines of this year's Tourism Day.