TRAVEL TALK Congress

Implementation strategies for MTB sign-posting in Alpine countries

Moderation: Oliver Sollbach und Karin Proell, ADFC
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland mountain biking is in the meantime a very important added value factor – particularly due to the elaborate signposting systems. Although it was originally intended just to bridge over the summer months in the alpine skiing regions, mountain biking has since become a tourist field of activity in its own right. In the three neighbouring countries there are many similarities as well as differences in signposting practice. This presentation ranges from the legal basis of the integrated mountain bike signposting in Switzerland over the development of official provisions in Germany down to individual solutions in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The presentation rounds off with European data on MTB tourism.

Key note lectures – Examples from Austria, Germany and Switzerland

1.) „Focus of MTB tourism in Europe“

Dr. Dennis Hürten
Dr. Dennis Hürten studied geography at Cologne University; both his final year dissertation and doctoral thesis were on the topic of cycling tourism. In 2006 he set up the market research and consulting company Trendscope (www.trendscope.com) in Cologne. The focus of his company is on tourism consulting, concept and strategy development, product and concept tests, brand and image analyses and pricing. At Trendscope Dr. Hürten is also responsible for the market survey “Cycling tours in Germany”, which has been regularly carried out since 2008 and gives a representative description of the German cycle tourism market. Since 2007 his team has also been carrying out the cycle tour analysis for the ADFC. Dr. Hürten is an active member of the Tourism Committee of the ADFC Federal Association and since 2007 he has been a lecturer at various German universities.

2.) "Development of mountain bike tourism in Carinthia – a catching up process with promising perspectives"

Dr. Hannes Slamanig

Dr. Hannes Slamanig is the Tourist Officer of the Austrian State of Carinthia. The main projects here include the Drauradweg Cooperation (South Tyrol – Eastern Tyrol – Carinthia – Slovenia – Croatia), cultural and family tourism initiatives or the initiation of economic relations with the Alpine-Adrian partners.

Since May 2009 Hannes Slamanig has been focussing on the overall development of the tourism initiative "Radland Kärnten" [Bike Country Carinthia]. This state-wide standardisation of mountain bike systems includes monitoring family cycle paths along Carinthia’s rivers and lakes, networking EU leader projects in this context and linking what’s on offer with marketing. What’s behind this is the standardisation of contracts, insurance and signposting for some 3,000 km tourist mountain bike tracks in Austria’s most southern state. Unlike in the states of Salzburg and Tyrol (development here has been going on for some 15 – 20 years since the early 1990s), it was only two years ago that Carinthia set up a central coordination office for cycle tourism, so obviously there is a lot catching up to be done. With his enormous experience in regional politics (national parks, EU programmes, Alpine-Adrian tourist networks) Slamanig can make a valuable contribution here.

3.) “MTB – Signposting between the Harz mountains and the Alps – standardised in the future?!” – Presentation of a new leaflet on mountain bike signposting

Karin Proell

From 2006 to March 2011 Karin Proell, a geographer and traffic planner, was responsible for the coordination office for cycle tourism infrastructure at the Tourist Board of Schleswig-Holstein. Here she concentrated on drawing up and monitoring digital cycle path data for Schleswig-Holstein – in GIS and as GPS data, as well as providing advisory services for tourism partners in the state. In March 2011 Karin Proell took over the project management for cycle tourism in the project “Niedersachsen – cycling country” at TourismusMarketing Niedersachsen GmbH in Hanover. Karin Proell is also chairwoman of the ADFC Cycle Tourism Committee and in charge of the leaflet on mountain bike signposting.

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