Good practice destination Werfenweng (AT)

Contributor DiegoNunez
Country Austria
Keywords
  • Destinations-in-Europe
  • Energy conservation
  • Europe
  • Greenhouse gas emissions
  • Low impact transportation
Release date 25/03/2014
Landscape type Mountain
Topics
  • Destination Management
  • Climate Change - Energy and Resource Efficiency
  • Travel, Transport & Mobility
GSTC Criteria for Destinations
  • A1 Destination management responsibility
  • A2 Destination management strategy and action plan
  • A5 Resident engagement and feedback
  • D.4. Greenhouse gas emissions
  • D.5. Energy conservation
  • D.12. Low-impact transportation
Marketplace category Destinations Destinations
Type Best Practice Destination (Best Practice Destination)
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# File name Contributor Release date Uploaded by Upload date Size Content type
Good Practice Innovation Sheet
                          
Items Description
1. WHO
Key people and organisations (initiator, leader, partners)  Municipality of Werfenweng
 Alpine Pearls
Key Figures Surface Inhabitants Tourism arrivals Tourism nights
 45 km²  884 (1. Apr. 2009)    
2. WHY
Reason for taking the good practice action Werfenweng lies 45 km south of Salzburg, in the mountains of Salzburger Land. It had seen a major decrease of tourism development in the 1980.
Issues and challenge In 1995 Werfenweng started to develop the new tourism positioning “Gentle mobility – a break from the car”.

Werfenweng took part actively in various model projects:
- Austrian „Modellvorhaben Sanfte Mobilität – Autofreier Tourismus“
- EU-Project Alps Mobility
- EU-Project Alps Mobility II

3. HOW
Methods /steps / tools used (to develop the good practice) With those projects the tourism product „SAMO Card“ in cooperation with the SAMO-Hotels could be developed.
  • many local projects realized
  • a touristic product for the marked could be developped
  • the „SAMO-Card“ is key factor of success: customer service card with many included services

The SAMO-Card receive guests who arrive by train or bus OR leave their car key with the tourism info. Total cost per guest: € 8. All SAMO-Card offers are then free of charge!


SAMO Card mobility offer:

A) General mobility

  • Werfenweng Shuttle: a bus connecting Werfenweng directly to the train station Bischofshofen
  • ELOIS – The private taxi service , Mercedes Vito E-CELL Electric night taxi
  • Rental cars: E-cars “Werfenwenger smile-E´s”: 5 Peugeot iOn, 3 Mitsubishi iMiev, 2 Renault ZOE, 1 Renault Twizy; all charged by solar power. Biogas cars “Werfenwenger Grass hoppers”: biogas produced of grass

B) Fun Mobility - Rental of vehicles in the village center

  • E-bikes, Pedelecs, E-Mountainbikes
  • Electro scooter
  • Segways, Twizy and many more e-vehicles
  • Mountainbikes and bycicles
  • scooter and vehicles for small children
  • special bikes like tandems, etc.

C) Additional advantages included in summer

  • day tours by bus to popular destinations (Salzburg, Ice caves, castle Hohenwerfen, ski jump Bischofshofen
  • guided hiking tours
  • nature watch tours
  • guided nordic walking tours
  • bicycle taxi
  • entry to swimming lake

D) Additional advantages included in winter

  • tour with horse coach/sledge
  • ice skating including skates
  • trekking with lamas
  • guided snow-shoe walking tour
  • cross country equipment
  • trail fees for cross country
  • tobogganing hire


Other measures:
Use of sun energy

  • 54 solar street lamps
  • Solar-fuelling station for the e-vehicles
  • Fotovoltaik plant Werfenweng
  • Small edutainment park „Solarpark“

Regional and local development:

  • The farmer‘s shop with delicious local products and souvenirs
  • projects of cooperation of local farmers and producers with hotels and restaurants
  • bio mass heating works
Soft-mobility service card for the inhabitants of Werfenweng:
  • Service package for inhabitants reducing car use
  • with various advantages and rebates
  • Basis is a contract between the municipality and the individual person or household
  • Important! Soft mobility is not only for tourists - Credibility only if measures also for inhabitants!
4. RESULT
Specific/measurable results, benefits  From 1995 to 2013 the share of non-car arrivals rose from 6% to 25%

Success factors include: free pick-up at railway station Bischofshofen, free transport during holidays, free mobility services. Communication measures for this offer.
The winners are:

  • the environment: 25 % Arrival by train; minus 400 tons CO2/Year
  • the entreprises : Positiv development of overnight stays
  • the guests: enjoying a well-priced mobility-inclusive package
  • the inhabitants: using the Werfenweng Shuttle, night taxi and fun vehicles; Employment: several new jobs have been created. Trade and shops: Rising income by more tourism. Image: The inhabitants are proud to live in a role model village. Co-operation: The hotels co-operate very well for soft mobility.
Recognitions (e.g. awards) Werfenweng has received several awards for its SAMO-projects
5. REFLECTION
Lessons learned
  •   Hotels need to be involved from the beginning
  • Strong leadership required, especially in the beginning and when problems occur
  • Product development is very important
  • High standards of quality important
  • Continous development of new ideas and innovations
  • Integration of other sectors (agriculture, energy production, architecture, etc.)
Challenges met  Werfenweng meets many of the GSTC criteria.

See also the Werfenweng GSTR self assessment results
The “Gentle Mobility – a break from the car” innovation meets a.a. the GSTC criteria:

“D12 Low-impact transportation: The destination has a system to increase the use of low-impact transportation, including public transportation and active transportation (e.g., walking and cycling).”

Critical success factors As proud member of Alpine Pearls, Werfenweng is ready to hand on and hereby multiply the experiences made.

Every year around 40 study tours visit Werfenweng in order to learn about the experiences.

6. MORE 
web-references, documents  Werfenweng - Green Destination