Digitalisation of the hiking stages of the Dunkelsteinerwald-Runde, Jauerling-Runde and World Heritage Trail

The ownership and tenure status for the entire route should be clarified © Tourenexport Alpstein
The ownership and tenure status for the entire route should be clarified © Tourenexport Alpstein

In recent years, the regions of the Wachau and the Dunkelsteinerwald focused on the topic of hiking. Following preparatory work in the Jauerling-Wachau Nature Park (parts of the hiking system there were later emphasised in the so-called Jauerling-Runde), the World Heritage Trail, a 180 kilometre-long, long-distance hiking trail on both banks of the Danube opened in 2010 after an intensive planning phase and became a pioneering project both at home and abroad. Based on the success of the World Heritage Trail, the Dunkelsteinerwald-Runde was planned and implemented in the years that followed and thus complements the overall trail network of 30 stages and probably the biggest non-alpine hiking centre in Central Europe.

Due to the extreme time pressure during implementation, especially of the World Heritage Trail, the creation of a complete directory of owners of the used trail sections was unfortunately not created as work progressed. As only existing hiking trails were integrated into the trail network of the described loop/long-distance hiking trails, it was assumed that an adequate clarification of rights had already taken place. In recent months, however, it has become clear that this assumption is not always correct and the region is regularly on the receiving end of claims and disputes resulting from the failure to clarify the legal situation beforehand. What’s more, expansion projects, such as the installation of rest areas, are also in the pipeline; these required detailed information about the ownership and tenure status.

Online voting: 12.9.2016
Project promoter: Wachau Dunkelsteinerwald Regionalentwicklungs GmbH
Funding level: 70%
Project duration: 8 months
Supported by the federal province and the European Union (LEADER).