Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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benefits for countries are limited and focused on a few port cities. Furthermore, as the EU is
interested in fostering the integration of macroeconomic regions and consolidating its
influence in Eastern Europe, one of the key areas being the Danube region, a political and
strategic framework emerged - the EU Danube Strategy, in short EUSDR - that created a
facilitating framework for the realization of joint projects and activities across Danube
countries.
The Danube is one of Europe’s longest rivers with a length of 2888 kilometers, with the German
section of the Danube winding its way through Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, covering 199
kilometers through Baden-Württemberg and 448 kilometers through Bavaria. In Austria, the
Danube flows for 350 km. Its 172 km in Slovakia and the Hungarian part of the Danube is 417
km long. 188 km are in Croatia, and Serbia has Serbia 588 km. The longest portion of the
Danube runs through Romania, for more than a thousand kilometers. It borders the country
from the East, and after that, it broadens and forms most of the state border to Bulgaria for 480
km. At Galati, the river divides into an expansive delta before entering the Black Sea. The
Northern branch of the delta runs along the border between Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.
With 160 km at the Romania/Ukraine border and less than a kilometer at the border with
Moldova.
Because of their different history and evolution, vast differences between the countries remain,
with the German-speaking countries figuring among the most competitive tourist destinations
in the world, and Moldova, on the other side of the continuum, being the least competitive
tourism destination in all of Europe. These substantial differences are reflected in aspects such
as visitor arrivals, competitiveness rankings, infrastructure development, marketing budgets,
and institutionalization of destination management structures representing a fundamental
challenge when working with the Danube region.
While the Rhine River has been called “Europe’s river highway,” the Danube is sometimes
referred to as the “country road among European rivers.” Apart from the capitals Vienna,
Bratislava, Budapest, and Belgrade located right on the river, much of the Danube region
retains a rural character, uniting areas that are not always tourism hot spots in their respective
countries.
Despite all the differences, the two common themes that attract tourism to the Danube region
are both culture and nature, two aspects that are covered in the DCC Marketing Plan. The
cultural aspect encompasses city breaks, rural traditions, festivals, art, creative industries,
gastronomy, languages, and dialects. The strong link between food and culture is evident in the
wine regions, agricultural or harvest festivals, as well as many traditions that relate to rural
and agrarian life.
The nature part encompasses the river itself and all the water sports possibilities that come
with it; as well as nearby natural areas, even national parks, that are the base for activities such
as hiking, biking, nature observation, horseback riding, relaxing, spa tourism, and health and
wellness tourism in general. Cycling, in particular, is indicative fof the Danube Region, with the
Danube Cycling Path (part of the Eurovelo cycling 6 route345) figuring among Europe’s most
popular cycling routes. This is one of the key elements of the Danube corridor.
Another major segment is river cruising, with cruising packages with a duration of one week
or two weeks dominating the landscape, most of which originate in Southern Germany near
345 "EuroVelo 6: Atlantic – Black Sea," EuroVelo, accessed October 12, 2019,