Cyclotourism – a great opportunity for Croatia and the region

Cyclotourism is a great opportunity for all countries where it is developing, including Croatia and other countries in the region, where there is significant potential for routes that need to be transformed into cycling-tourism infrastructure, so cyclotourists, along with them, will certainly not miss out on income.

Cyclotourism is increasingly developing in Croatia and the region, aided by the networking of EuroVelo cyclotourism routes, with the establishment of 14 European routes totaling 70 thousand kilometers planned by 2020. The importance of establishing national cyclotourism centers is therefore very significant for coordinating all activities at the state level and cooperating with other countries in the European Union.

Last week, a workshop was held in Zagreb on the establishment and organization of activities for such a coordination center (engl. National Eurovelo coordination centre). The meeting was organized by the associations Cyclists’ Union and Rural Tandem, with the support of ministries through the Danube cycling project, and more than 50 stakeholders from Croatia attended, including representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, representatives from tourist boards and agencies, cities, associations, and institutes.

The initiator and main coordinator of the EuroVelo project is the European Cycling Federation (engl. European Cycling Federation, ECF), whose representative Jesus Freire emphasized at the workshop that this project is co-financed from EU funds and that during the project period from 2014 to 2020, it is planned to establish, mark, and network 14 grouped European routes totaling about 70 thousand kilometers in Europe. Croatia is part of at least two routes – the Mediterranean and the Baltic-Adriatic, and along with Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia, in the Danube route, for which agreements are underway.

– Cyclotourism is a great opportunity for all countries where it is developing, including Croatia and other countries in the region, where there is significant potential for routes that need to be transformed into cycling-tourism infrastructure, so cyclotourists, along with them, will certainly not miss out on income, Freire stated.

– Cyclotourism contributes about 44 billion euros annually to the European economy, which is similar to the cruise sector, and it is also a sector that employs a lot, with around half a million people in Europe alone, Freire pointed out, who believes that it can develop equally well in Croatia on the coast with the islands and on the continent.

The Federation has 80 member organizations, including the Cyclists’ Union from Croatia, which gathers around two thousand members, and its representative Marko Stančec stated that they expect the ministries of tourism and maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure, as well as the Croatian Tourist Board, to apply for EU funds for this project.

Zoran Klarić from the Institute for Tourism expressed his pleasure that Croatia has an action plan for the development of cyclotourism this year, which the Institute has developed, emphasizing that Croatia is committed to developing this offer, but that it lacks a lot of infrastructure (paths, rest areas, etc.) and the type of tourist offer ‘bike&bed’ that such tourists most seek.

– A lot has already been done in Istria, significant progress has been made in Zadar and Split-Dalmatia counties, and I believe that this will rapidly develop elsewhere, as the action plan envisions that by 2020 Croatia will become one of the most desirable cyclotourism destinations in the world, Klarić stated, emphasizing that the best indicators of this segment are the data that there are currently more than 60 million active cyclists in Europe and that on average, cyclotourists spend up to 30 percent more than traditional tourists.

Lidija Mišćin, along with the Rural Tandem associations, presented to the attendees the current state of cyclotourism offers and infrastructure in Croatia and emphasized that coordination at the national level is extremely important to ensure that all interested partners in Croatia are included and that there are universal rules for marking and certifying routes. Support from the two main ministries is also important, following the established national centers in the European Union.

– We hope that through cooperation with the ministries we will succeed in the idea because ECF wants Croatia in the EuroVelo project for which all already included countries, about 15 of them, have received funds from EU funds. We have held several operational meetings with the ministries, and now it is up to us to determine the model for establishment and the first activities, Stančec said.

The conclusion of the workshop is that there is support for this initiative and for the associations Rural Tandem and the Cyclists’ Union as initiators. All stakeholders agreed that in the next two months several more operational meetings will be held to agree on the establishment method and the functioning model of the future Eurovelo national coordination center, which should be led by representatives of the two associations that organized this meeting and representatives of the ministries, and the establishment of the center should occur by spring 2016.