Hike in Hajdú-Bihar – First steps towards greenway development
About this good practice
Applying the lessons learnt during the efficient interregional learning process in Our Way project, Hajdú-Bihar County Government started to promote the national Blue Circle trail’s section within the county named “Alföld Blue Trail”. The national trail is 2550 km and the section which passes through Hajdú-Bihar County is 205 km. It is divided for 9 smaller sections (15-36 km) with its own stamp.
Hajdú-Bihar County Government (HBCG) prepared the booklet “Green Pass of Hajdú-Bihar” which is a downloadable document with the maps of the smaller sections on each side and place for stamps. HBCG launched the programme “Hike in Hajdú-Bihar” in 2022. The participants have to complete the 205 km long trail in 12 months, prove it with the stamped booklet “Green pass of Hajdú-Bihar”. The participants who sent back the fully stamped “Green pass of Hajdú-Bihar” participate in a drawing lot. A reward scheme has been developed. The rewards are articles of hiking related to sustainable, responsible tourism.
The promotion of the county section of the trail strongly supports the visibility and promotion of small rural municipalities, including the economic actors (producers, accommodation providers, communities).
The programme is part of the greenway development actions of Hajdú-Bihar County.
Resources needed
Human capacity to prepare, implement and evaluate the process was provided by the staff of Hajdú-Bihar Government (including the creation of the green pass), promotion was offered by the local media, and the awards were financed by own public sources of HBCG.
Evidence of success
Following the dissemination of the programme, several applications arrived. The first result were published in November 2023.
The programme intends to strengthen the recognition and utilization of natural values and cultural heritage and to make those as more significant social and economic factor for the rural areas of the county.
Besides, a stronger link is expected between tourism organizers, local communities as well as suppliers within the sector.
Potential for learning or transfer
The opportunities will make it possible to promote existing but less known leisure activities and reach new target groups. Of course, even in Hajdú-Bihar there is and will be a need for strengthening and taking further steps, but the process of strengthening the attractiveness of hiking trails with a number of local values and heritage has successfully started.
A key element of success is the networking of the cooperating organisations, as networking not only helps to increase the visibility and visitor numbers of the sites, but also to promote harmonious cooperation between the individual organisations (county/regional governmental actors, municipalities, tourism NGOs, etc.) and the continuous development of relevant development strategies in line with community needs.