Increased development of the South Baltic area’s natural and cultural heritage assets into sustainable tourist destinations

Actions to increase the popularity of natural and cultural heritage areas/sites as sustainable tourism destinations will be supported. The protection, preservation and management of the area’s (South Baltic) rich and diverse natural and cultural heritage offers new perspectives for their sustainable use and development.

The South Baltic Programme (SBP) aims to exploit the potential for blue and green tourism by encouraging, for example, cross-border tourist trails linking natural and cultural heritage sites, jointly developed and marketed strategies and packages of e-services. Cross-border development of blue and green tourism requires innovative approaches to the sustainable management of natural and cultural heritage sites, maintaining a balance between economic use, environmental protection and the satisfaction of visitors and citizens. For that reason, they may involve other economic spheres (e.g. creative industry, information and communication technologies etc.).

Information, Kommunikation, Beteiligung, Strategieentwicklung, Konzept-, Teilkonzepterstellung, Vermarktung, Vernetzung, Kooperation, Wissenstransfer

Exemplary types of beneficiaries:

• Local and regional authorities and their associations.
• Formal associations, clusters and networks of SMEs (having legal personality).
• Chambers of commerce, business development agencies, tourist agencies and other business support and financial organisations.
• NGOs providing promotion and marketing services linked directly or indirectly to the tourism and cultural sector.
• Institutions of natural, culture and national heritage protection.
• Forest management institutions.
• R&D and educational institutions.
• European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation.

Hinweis: Bitte klären Sie die Förderfähigkeit Ihrer Institution frühzeitig mit den für die Förderung verantwortlichen Ansprechpartnern.

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern die Landkreise: Nordwestmecklenburg, Rostock, Vorpommern-Rügen, Vorpommern-Greifswald und die kreisfreie Stadt Rostock.

Kooperationsmöglichkeiten bestehen mit Dänemark, Schweden, Litauen und Polen. Bitte prüfen Sie im Kooperationsprogramm (KP, CP), S. 2, welche Teilräume der Staaten förderfähig sind.

Nicht rückzahlbarer Zuschuss

Exemplary actions:

• Preparation and implementation of small-scale pilot investments that enhance blue and green tourism infrastructure and services (e.g. cross-border thematic routes etc.).
• Joint events, publications, studies, and creation of cross-border strategies and products promoting the South Baltic area as a blue and green tourism destination.
• Inclusion of natural and cultural heritage sites in the networks and chains of blue and green tourism in the South Baltic area.
• Joint marketing the South Baltic area as a blue and green tourism destination and the promotion of cultural and natural assets of the South Baltic area, including land and underwater sites under formal protection (e.g. national parks, landscape parks and nature reserves protecting land and underwater habitats, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, World Biosphere Reserves, NATURA 2000 sites, cultural sites etc.).
• Capacity-building actions and joint campaigns enhancing the management of natural and cultural heritage sites on a cross-border scale, including the exchange of experiences, transfer of knowledge and the creation of network cooperation among authorities and administrations responsible for the management of natural and cultural heritage sites in the South Baltic area.
• Development of joint cross-border ICT tools for blue and green tourism attractions and accommodation facilities in the SBP area.
• Exchanging know-how and promotion of Eco-Management and Audit Scheme as well as joint eco-labelling actions for environmentally friendly products.
• Actions to protect and reinforce biodiversity and nature.

Beyond regular and small-scale cross-border cooperation projects, the Monitoring Committee may decide to co-finance strategic projects under this measure, i.e. projects that have a tangible impact on a significant part of the SBP area. Furthermore, there may be support for seed money activities, defined as drafting activities for a project concept which can be further developed into an application to the SBP.

Hinweis: Weitere förderrelevante Informationen zur Maßnahme finden Sie im Kooperationsprogramm ab S. 42.

• Visitors (tourists and inhabitants) to natural and cultural heritage areas/sites in the South Baltic area.
• Managers of regional/local tourist agencies.
• Managers of natural and cultural heritage sites.

Es werden nur solche Projekte unterstützt, bei denen Projektpartner aus mindestens zwei Teilnehmerländern zusammenarbeiten. Weitere Hinweise hierzu erhalten Sie auf der Homepage des South Baltic Programmes.

Projects will be submitted within dedicated calls for proposals. The rules for the submission of applications as well as the assessment and selection procedures will be described in the Programme Manual (Handbuch).

Weitere Hinweise zur Antragstellung finden Sie auf der Homepage des Interreg South Baltic.

Projects will be selected based on their ability to:

• Contribute to the delivery of the specific objectives and achievement of SBP indicators.
• Address the problems to be tackled in a way that justifies cross-border actions.
• Demonstrate solutions, technologies and approaches to the problems identified that are innovative (i.e. are not executed by the beneficiaries involved on a routine basis) and that are planned, designed and implemented in a cross-border partnership.
• Achieve durable and replicable outcomes (possible to be transferred to other geographical areas of the SBP).
• Contribute to the sustainable development.
• Promote equal opportunities and non-discrimination.
• Encourage equality between men and women.

The contribution of the project proposals in fulfilling the goals of the EUSBSR (EU strategy for the baltic sea region) will also be assessed.

Start der Maßnahme: 01.01.2014

Ende der Maßnahme: 31.12.2023