Project summary:

The aim of the project is the encouragement of engagement in water tourism as well as the investigation and popularization of the common traditions and cultural heritage of Hungary and Serbia. In addition, the exploration of the natural resources and social values of the region by the Tisza River, together with the natural and artificial waterways of the Tisza basin will be focused on within the framework of the project. We also aim to elaborate a joint tourism and marketing strategy and action plan for the cross-border region and formulate recommendation for the implementation of marketing activities at regional level. We would like to help the stakeholders of tourism to elaborate packages of joint tourist programs and identify tourism services, all of which are built on the Tisza river connecting our nations and cultures. High attention will be paid to connecting the attractions, sites and venues of the two sides of the border. Complexity of WATERTOUR is granted by a variety of interrelated and intertwined attractions of sport-, eco-, and cultural tourism. Starting a new tradition, we aim to organize and implement water tours which also create opportunities for the students of the participating Hungarian and Serbian universities to meet, to get acquainted and liaise with each other within the framework of jointly orgainzed programs in the area of their specialization, partnership, culture, sport, recreation and environmental protection. The implemented water tourism programs serve as model programs. By popularizing water tourism and strengthening the touristic potential of riverside settlements, as well as by implementing project outcomes in practice, the program will contribute to enhancing the regionally integrative role of the rivers of the Hungarian Southern Great Plain region and of Voivodina in Serbia. The project will solidify the geostrategic position of these regions and, in addition, it will also serve to prepare Serbia’s full integration into the EU.