Werfenweng/Austria: VISTAS 2014 1st prize winner

"Gentle mobility – a break from the car"

In 1995, Werfenweng started to develop its new tourism positioning « Gentle mobility – a break from the car ». The municipality of Werfenweng took actively part in new projects such as the Austria « Modellvorhaben Sanfte Mobilität – Autofreier Tourismus » but also EU-Project Alps Mobility I & II.

Along with those projects, a new product called the « the SAMO Card » came onto the scene in collaboration with the SAMO Hotels. “SAMO” comes from Sanfte Mobilität. In German that means « soft mobility ». Each guest who arrives by train, by bus or leaves his car’s key at the office tourism info pay 8€ for a range of SAMO services. Enjoy fun mobility with Segways, Twizy and many more e-vehicles like E-mountainbikes or pedelecs. Rent E-cars, the « Werfenwenger smile-E’s » : 5 Peugeot iOn, 3 Mitsubishi iMiev, 2 Renault ZOE and 1 Renault Twizy, all charged by solar power.

More than just mobility services, the SAMO card offers additional advantages in summer such as guided hiking tours, nature watch tours and day tours by bus to popular destinations such as Salzburg. In winter, benefit from many other advantages : tour with horses, trekking with lamas or guided snow-shoe walking tours.

Benefits from such a project are numerous at all levels: from 1995 to 2013, the share of non-car arrival rose from 6% to 25% in Werfenweng; the businesses still enjoy a positive development of overnight stays leading to the creation of new jobs; the guests can enjoy a very cheap mobility-inclusive package and finally the inhabitants themselves, proud of their village, use the Werfenweng shuttle, night taxi and fun vehicles.

Matthieu Defrance (GreenHopping & TravelGreenEurope team, 19 march 2014)

See the green offer of Werfenweng


Address
Keywords	Vistas, soft mobility,
Target group(s)	Travellers
Topics	Destination Management , Travel, Transport & Mobility