An interesting cross-border workshop on the creation of cycling tourism products took place in Ajdovščina on Thursday, 4 April 2024. It was organised by the Municipality of Ilirska Bistrica in cooperation with the Soča Valley Development Centre and the Regional Development Agency ROD Ajdovščina in the framework of two cross-border projects Inter Bike III and Adrioncycletour of the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia Programme.
The workshop was aimed at tourist organisations and local communities in the cross-border area to get acquainted with the activities of the two projects, which aim to contribute to the development of cycling tourism, and especially to learn about good practices in the formation of cycling tourism products. The Inter Bike III project aims to increase the visibility of the Soča-Kras-Adriatic Sea cycle route (long-distance cycle track D7), which connects the border crossings of Robič and Jelšane. This is an important link as it will connect the hinterland of the three countries from the Julian Alps to the North Adriatic. Cyclists will be able to cycle from Friuli to the Soča Valley, Gorica area, the Karst and Brkini and, in Croatia, down to the Kvarner Gulf.
The route of the national long-distance cycle track D7 is not yet fully defined on the terrain. That is why the Municipality of Ilirska Bistrica, in cooperation with an external contractor and stakeholders from the Goriška, Karst and Brkini areas, held a series of workshops in the past weeks to map the route in space. The next steps are to establish an appropriate level of tourist offer along the route, which is why training workshops for operators will be organised. This will be followed by the development of a marketing concept for the trail. The workshop in Ajdovščina was aimed at the latter. It introduced participants to successful examples of the development of cycle tourism in Slovenia, Austria and Italy.
Karmen Razlag, Head of the Tourism Sector of the Podravje Regional Development Agency, spoke about the development of one of the most successful Slovenian tourists cycling products, the Drava Bike. The route was planned two decades ago, encouraging municipalities to invest in infrastructure and connecting providers. Today, the municipalities and the Slovenian Infrastructure Directorate are linked in a partnership for the Drava Bike route, and the providers have their own association to jointly promote it. The next goal is to obtain the five-star quality label of the German cycling association ADFC, which the Austrian part of the cycle route already holds.
Martin Šolar, former director of the Triglav National Park, presented the Juliana Bike - a cycling link around the Julian Alps. Its development is under the care of the Triglav National Park and the municipalities united in the Julian Alps Community. The area is being developed taking into account the wishes of the local population and, above all, the principles of nature conservation and protection. Cinzia Gozzo from the Local Action Group of Eastern Veneto - Vegal spoke about the development of cycle tourism in their area through the three cross-border Inter Bike projects. At the same time as the 1,000 km Adriabike cycling route from Kranjska Gora to Ravenna was established in the first project, they started to encourage tourism operators to network together. They set up an association which is still running successfully ten years later. In the second project, they focused on improving the offer of boat services along the canals of the lagoon in order to shorten the cyclists' journey overland. In a third project, a private operator has been invited to set up a new sea line in the Venice lagoon.
Gregor Steklačič from the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy presented the strategic framework for planning the development of cycling in Slovenia. He pointed out that the country is preparing a Strategic Cycling Development Plan until 2030.
