Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the report to the European Parliament. This recognized the need for a flagship
low-carbon tourism product to provide EU citizens an opportunity to sample
a major slow-travel facility. The study concluded that EuroVelo had the poten-
tial to:
• enhance domestic tourism and to reduce long-distance tourist travel, thus
helping greatly to curb CO 2 emissions
• encourage short-distance cross-border tourism with minimal environmen-
tal impact and low level of emissions
• encourage people to use public transport to travel to the cycle destination,
resulting in a lower environmental impact than the case of private cars or
air transport
• reuse assets such as old railways, forest tracks and canal towpaths
• stimulate economic development in rural areas that are not prime tourist
destinations
• bring about a diversification of land-based businesses to provide accom-
modation, attractions and food and beverage for local consumption
• offer local residents the opportunity to improve their quality of life by tak-
ing more physical exercise
• generate near-zero carbon dioxide emissions by users on the route
• offer a form of slow travel which encourages interest in the richness of
local gastronomy, heritage and community life across different countries
and regions of the EU. (European Parliament, 2009, pp18-19).
The major challenge will be for policy-makers, and those seeking to implement
the network, to release sufficient funding to support the delivery and mainte-
nance of the world's first continental slow travel tourism network.
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