NECSTouR, as the European partner of STAR Cities, the Interreg Europe project on "Sustainable Tourism for Attractivity of Riverside Cities", was proud to organise the STAR Cities European Conference, held online on the morning of the 26th of November. The European Conference was the final webinar of the project after a string of online learning sessions organised in 2020 and 2021 to counter travel restrictions.

Relive the conference through the video recording of the event, available on YouTube. (here is the Agenda)

The STAR Cities learning programme is coming to an end and project partners were happy to present the result of their cooperation for a better management of river tourism in Riverside Cities. The STAR Cities Good Practices Guide is the result of three years of exchange of experiences about river tourism development. This document present the main outcomes of the project learning programme and a selection of good practices from all project partners.

Good practices from STAR Cities partnership and outside

The conference showcased a dozen of good practices, from 5 different destinations (Paris, Ljubljana, Hamburg, Rome, Kaunas) and our 4 different themes (sustainability, governance, community and marketing). Plus, we were glad to welcome a handful of guests:

• The European Travel Commission on Sustainable Tourism Implementation
• Interreg Europe ThreeT project in Lahntal (Germany)
• Institute Factory of Sustainable Tourism Goodplace on the Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism
• The Barcelona Declaration (Better Places to Live, Better Places to Visit)
• Good practices from NECSTouR parters: Veneto Region and AMBIS University

You have the possibility to download one document with all the presentations of the 12 good practices and the policy recommendations.

The future of cooperation of STAR Cities

The conference was the occasion to exchange about the future of the Riverside Cities network within the new Interreg Europe programme.

The day before the conference, more than 30 people attended the virtual session to exchange ideas on two project presentations:

• What are the technical solutions to help river tourism turn green? How regional authorities and tourism boards can support the private sector in this important transition? For example, with boat cruises, soft mobility, intramodality, etc.
• How to create and valorise a Water and River Culture in Europe? What are the (hi)stories of locals regarding the river and how it can be highlighted to be part of the destination storytelling?

You can download the single presentation about the Future of STAR Cities here.

Inputs on Interreg Europe 2021-2027

But as it was asked to us, you can find here the single presentation of Martin Krekeler from the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg about the new Interreg Europe 2021-2027 Programme.

Learn more about the Interreg Europe 2021-2027 Programme and how you can apply on our project's hub. NECSTouR members are invited to contact NECSTouR secretariat if they are interested in creating a project for the Interreg programmes or to join existing consortiums. Other Interreg programmes covered include Interreg Alpine Space, Interreg MED and Interreg North-West Europe.