Cross-border cycling routes can connect border regions

Long-distance cycling and hiking routes are popular among tourists. Routes running through several countries can ensure that regions are connected to each other on both sides of the track, even if these regions are located in different countries. However, many opportunities remain unused, says Dr. Arie Stoffelen of the University of Groningen in a paper that was published this week.

For his research, Stoffelen, lecturer and researcher in geography and tourism at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, took the Vennbahn as a case study. This 125-kilometer-long cycle route runs along the route of a former railway between Aachen in Germany and Troisvièrges in Luxembourg, via Belgium, and passes a national border 14 times. Routes such as the Vennbahn can improve existing cross-border partnerships in the region. They form a basis that other tourist products, sectors or services can be connected to. For example, the Vennbahn connects bicycle networks on both sides of the border, thereby blurring infrastructural boundaries and strengthening social integration between inhabitants of the border regions. The route also led to an intensification of cross-border cooperation in other sectors, such as emergency services.

Recommendations

Every year, cross-border routes are co-financed by Interreg, a European Union program to promote cooperation between regional regions of different countries. Project groups involved in these types of routes will have to think about how this money can be used systematically instead of being fragmented in many small projects, and what will happen if funding from organizations like Interreg ends. A strategic vision of how local efforts around the cycling or walking route are interconnected is necessary to allow the entire border region along the route to benefit from this. The Vennbahn is a good example of how such a strategic vision has led to a successful tourist route. In other border regions in Europe, however, there are still many examples where this is missing.

More information

‘ Tourism trails as tools for cross-border integration: A best practice case study of the Vennbahn cycling route ’ was published in Annals of Tourism Research.