On August 25, 2025, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Vratsa, Bulgaria, held the first stakeholder meeting under the project “DanubeCrafts: Creating and Promoting Sustainable Forms of Cultural Tourism”, funded by the Interreg Danube Region Programme (DRP). The partnership brings together 18 organizations from 12 countries in Central and Southeastern Europe, led by the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA, Bucharest (Romania). Strategic participants include the Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Vratsa (Bulgaria), Vukovar-Srijem County (Croatia), Pannon Business Network Association (Hungary), Steinbeis 2i GmbH (Germany), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Austria), as well as regional agencies from Serbia, Montenegro, and the Czech Republic. The consortium also involves tourism experts such as the National Institute for Research and Development in Tourism (Romania) and the Tourist Board of Međimurje County (Croatia).
Project duration: 01.04.2025 – 30.09.2027.
During the meeting, the DanubeCrafts project, its objectives, activities, and expected results were presented and discussed, along with opportunities for political support and integration into regional and national strategies, as well as the identification and classification of key challenges related to tourism infrastructure, the development of traditional crafts, and their role in cultural tourism.
The discussion highlighted that partnership between the public sector, businesses, NGOs, and education is the key to sustainable regional development and social inclusion through cultural tourism and the preservation of traditional crafts.
For further information about the project, please contact Mrs. Maya Milova, CCI-Vratsa, at tel. +359 92 660 273 or e-mail: cci-vr@cci-vratsa.org.
