Italy: Parco Paneveggio – Pale di San Martino Development and promotion of multimodal transport Italian
Type of environment: nature recreation Partners involved: Oeko-Institut Suedtirol / Alto Adige Supported by Natural Park "Paneveggio Pale di San Martino"   The Italian demonstration site is the Natural Park “Paneveggio Pale di San Martino” situated in the Italian eastern Alps. The 197 sq km Park includes essentially three geographical landscape units: the big forest of spruce firs; the Dolomitic complex of Pale di San Martino and the eastern part of the large porphyry chain of Lagorai. The Park covers the territory of 9 communities. The region covers about 600 sq km with approximately 16.000 inhabitants. The area is characterized by sensitive alpine landscape which is important for local tourism. The village of San Martino di Castrozza, surrounded by the Park, has initiated its tourist activities already in the middle of the XIX century, becoming one of the most popular destinations in the Alps. Each year, especially during the winter and the summer seasons, more than 376.000 tourists visit the region, spending about 2.700.000 nights. Moreover the area is important for day tourism, considering that it is easily reachable from bigger cities in the Po Valley.   Adapting public transport to tourists needs (time scheduling, frequencies, lines and modes coherence, information)   For 9 routes, an analysis of stops, schedules and timetables has been carried out, (for example missing or less efficient links). On the basis of a SWOT-analysis, proposals for improvement and optimization of the routes in the summer season 2008 have been proposed to the park management. After discussion, they have been accepted. As a result, the routes have been optimized and the information was adapted. In co-operation with the local stakeholders (representatives of hotel and restaurant sector, local tourist board) a proposal for the implementation of a new bus route for the summer of 2008 was also worked out. A questionnaire has been developed and more than 900 interviews have been made among tourists in summer 2007. The survey provided the park management to have more knowledge about: Types of visitors Mobility motivations and transport behaviour of park guests Attitude regarding current and possible sustainable mobility initiatives in the Park Identification and promotion of activities and destinations that can be done/reached using sustainable mobility Once the gaps in the transport system were identified and strategies elaborated for its improvement, it was important also to develop alternative activities and destinations in the park area, in order to make public transport more attractive. The most logical activities, especially in summer time, are cycling (more difficult in this mountain area) and hiking. For the development of alternative destinations, an important opportunity was the presence of anthropological points of interest in different parts of the park. This made it possible to develop “culture + nature” hiking trails.   Development of a "destination card" (including a "destination map") On the basis of the identified routes and destinations/activities, a destination map was created, containing: The analyzed bus routes The main destinations + activities (hiking trails) The main intermodal nodes The main ideas underlying the destination card were: The importance of communication in the promotion of sustainable mobility. It is necessary not only to develop useful services, but also to promote them and promote the connected activities; The information needs to be clear and it should be very accessible: this is the reason why, for the development of the destination card, a special z-card format has been chosen; The information should be condensed and homogeneous: the destination card not only contains the map, but also all the timetables, useful information about sustainable mobility and the logo of the park and the STREAM project.
This way, the Destination card is only the first step towards the promotion not only of sustainable mobility behaviour, but also of the Park itself as a sustainable tourist destination. The card was distributed at the main locations of the park and at the main intermodal nodes.   The main aim of this part of this part of the project was the promotion of intermodal nodes as a way to foster sustainable mobility. Proposals for the improvement of existing multimodal nodes or the creation of new areas have been discussed with the park, but not realized yet. Awareness has been raised, though, among the project partners about the importance of “multimodal thinking”. The implementation of some proposals is likely to have a start in 2009.   Home Updated 05.02.09