GREEN AND MYSTICAL DANUBE STORYTELLING ROUTE - Transnational valorisation of natural and intangible cultural heritage for socio-economic development of rural areas in the Danube region
MYSTICAL DANUBE
Official web site of the project 
- Programme: INTERREG Danube Transnational programme
- Programme priority: A more social Danube Region
- Specific objective: 3.3: Socio-economic development through heritage, culture and tourism
- Lead partner: Zadar County Rural Development Agency (HR)
- Project duration: 01/01/2024 – 30/06/2026
- Project budget: 1.974.034,48 €
- EU co-financing: 1.579.227,58 €
PARTNERS:
- BSC, Business support Centre L.t.d., Kranj (SI)
- Public Institution for the Development of the Međimurje County REDEA (HR)
- Business association for sport, recreation, rehabilitation and business Eco zone Ada Huja (RS)
- City Development Agency Banja Luka (BA)
- BROZ – Regional association for nature conservation (SK)
- Agency for management of protected areas of Podgorica (ME)
- CEEweb for Biodiversity (HU)
- Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, MEAT (RO)
- Regional Development Agency with Business Support Centre for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (BG)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT:
The Mystical Danube project aims to address challenges and needs in the Danube Region, focusing on the valorisation of natural and intangible cultural heritage for tourism development and regional economic growth. The project targets rural and less visited areas facing high unemployment and social exclusion, particularly among disadvantaged groups. By leveraging the rich natural and cultural heritage of these regions, the project seeks to foster community development through transnational collaboration and the creation of a thematic tourism route – the Green and Mystical Danube Storytelling Route. This route will showcase local stories, legends, and knowledge, engaging local communities, including disadvantaged groups, in the development of community-based tourism services. The main project objective is to develop a coordinated joint transnational approach in the valorisation of natural and intangible cultural heritage as a tourism asset in rural and less visited areas in the Danube Region Programme area. The project’s main outputs will include 1 joint strategy for the valorisation of natural and intangible cultural heritage in rural and less visited areas of the Danube Region, 10 Pilot site Action plans for the development of sustainable community tourism services and products, 23 partner organisations cooperating across borders and a jointly developed solution for transnational tourism development tested as a pilot action on 10 Pilot sites as a new thematic route, the Green and Mystical Danube Storytelling Route, with the mobile app showing the route and its features in terms of sites and available touristic services and set up contact points at Pilot sites. Contact points with the mobile app will be a place for local stories and myths to be narrated by newly trained local storytellers, but also to transpose and introduce people to other Pilot sites and their stories and legends.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:
- Strategy for valorisation of natural and intangible cultural heritage in rural, less visited areas
- Capacity building of local community stakeholders in the Danube region for the new thematic route
- Promotion of the Green and Mystical Danube Storytelling Route as a new thematic route in the Danube region
This project is supported by the Interreg Danube Region Programme co-funded by the European Union.