05-06 Dec 2018
The DUNC team gathered In the fabulous historic German city and World heritage site, Wismar, for the fourth all partner & stakeholder meeting. n the fabulous city of Wismar, Germany. Joining us were our German associated partners, the National Park Vorpommern Authority and for the first time, The Office of the Southeast Rügen Biosphere Reserve. Wismar was a milestone event for the team in a number of ways. Not only did it mark the halfway point in the project but we also made some important decisions about the DUNC legacy. During our first Concept Development Workshop, the partners discussed the site’s needs and hopes for the future of our precious Baltic Sea UNESCO network. It was decided that we will indeed create a permanent and formalized Baltic Sea UNESCO network. Work will now begin on defining its objectives, scope & activities and of course the governance of such a prestigious entity. The team are really excited about the prospects for this organization.
Wismar’s medieval city gate ‘Wassertor’ provided a most fitting venue for the event as the team also discussed how we can use & package the unique stories of each UNESCO site to promote sustainable tourism and build cooperation with local businesses. We are very happy that Wismar will be working with the project partners from Baltic Sea Tourism Center to develop their plans for a unique heritage trail that joins two parts of the city. Thank you to both Johannes Volkmar and Mareike Demann of the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Tourist Board (TMV) for their presentation and insight into the fantastic work that the center is doing. We are looking forward to a number of lines of cooperation not only with regards to product development but also on partnerships, and sustainable tourism development in the Baltic Sea Region.
New product development leads to promotional activities and marketing challenges. Sebastian Hugo Witzel, also from TMV led an interesting discussion about the use of social media and tips for how best to run campaigns. These valuable tools will certainly be put into practice as we launch our new products and begin to promote our new Baltic Sea UNESCO network.
Also joining us at the meeting was Leszek Czerwonk from the University of Gdansk. We had the pleasure of finding out more about the South Baltic project, Baltic Heritage Routes. The prospects of future cooperation between our two projects are very interesting indeed. We share a lot of common ground and will work to develop ideas over the coming months.
The 2 day conference was jointly hosted by the EUCC The Coastal Union Germany and Wismar Tourist Office. It was a successful and productive 2 days with everybody thoroughly enjoying the fascinating guided tour around the historic city with a special visit to the Welt-Erbe-Haus (World heritage House) for the switching on of their Christmas lights.
