22 May 2009
Naturefriends International and Alpine Pearls sign a cooperation agreement to encourage soft mobility in the alpine region.

Salzburg / Austria – In the framework of the Naturefriends’ European Conference under the heading of „Getting There – Naturefriends Point hat Way to Soft Mobility“, president Manfred Pils and general secretary Christian Baumgartner of the Naturefriends International (NFI) signed a cooperation agreement with Peter Brandauer, president of the Alpine Pearls, to encourage soft mobility in the alpine region.

The high degree of mobility we have come to take for granted has many positive aspects, such as access to education and jobs also for peripheral regions. On the other hand it involves quite a number of negative consequences for the environment in the tourism destinations, caused by traffic and transport. These consequences have to be borne by both the resident population and visiting guests. The share of road-bound tourist traffic in Europe amounts to 75% and 50-75% of the environmental consequences of tourism are caused by this. “The pollutant emissions of traffic not only threatens our health, but also affects the quality of our environment and contribute to climate change”, says Manfred Pils.

The tourism supply of Austria and especially of the alpine region has to be bound to soft mobility, and has to take relaxation, deceleration and the experience of nature to the fore. “The cooperation of the NFI and the Alpine Pearls will considerably contribute to encourage sustainable tourism and highlights the importance of soft mobility in the alpine region”, Christian Baumgartner emphasises the aim of the cooperation.

In addition to the cooperation agreement, experts from Austria, Germany and Switzerland presented practical examples for soft mobility in tourism at the internationally attended conference. During the panel discussion demands were formulated considering regulatory frameworks. Finally, based on the NFI´s Climate Charta from 2008 a position paper on mobility and tourism in times of climate change was passed.

From the experience gained with these projects and from the outcome of the Conference, Naturefriends have derived the following 5 priority demands:

1. Focus on soft-mobility tourism formats (e.g. strengthen the marketing for environmentally sound mobility)
2. Broaden the appeal of public transport (e.g. introducing all-year passes)
3. Guarantee funding of public transport (e.g. guaranteed accessibility)
4. Encourage innovation of new transport technologies (e.g. testing of airships for possibilities in tourism)
5. Provide a regulatory framework designed to advance soft mobility (e.g. integrate criteria for soft mobility for all funding guidelines)

The European Conference “Getting There – Naturefriends Point the Way to Soft Mobility” in Salzburg on 22 May 2009, was organised by Naturefriends International, by Naturefriends Austria and the national Naturefriends Federations with the support of the EU Commission, Directorate General Environment, and of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Environment and Water Management.

Contact:
Anita Pinter
Naturefriends International
+43 (0) 1 8923877-24, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Regina Hrbek
Naturefriends Austria
+43 (0) 18923534-16, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it