Funded projects

As part of the revision of the tourism strategy of the Ammergau Alps Nature Park, the target profile "Nature for all the senses" was defined for the town of Saulgrub together with the local tourism stakeholders. This slogan makes it clear that specific offers are being developed for the target group of blind and visually impaired people, as the non-profit AURA Hotel, as the largest tourism service provider, appeals to this target audience.

The adventure trail therefore focuses on touch, smell, taste and hearing in order to convey the four central landscape areas of the nature park (forest, meadow, moor, river). These landscape areas can be experienced on a circular route that is only 1,7 km long. The trail concept largely refrains from staging the landscapes with additional installations. Instead, an existing barn is used to represent elements of traditional moor and meadow use.

The adventure trail uses apps that can be installed on a smartphone as a central communication tool. The GPS sensor helps both sighted and blind visitors find their way and identify the various adventure stations. The combination of the GPS sensor, which can provide location-based information about the route, with tactile guidance elements (bridge railings, wooden beams along the path) enables blind or visually impaired people to use the path independently.

The use of the apps makes it possible to address the following target groups in a differentiated manner, regardless of any possible visual impairment:

1. Target group: children and families: With the help of the storytelling concept, children are encouraged to put themselves in the shoes of different animals in the respective landscape areas and thus perceive the landscapes from a playful perspective.

2. Target group: Nature and cultural landscape enthusiasts: Here too, the focus is on encouraging the use of all of the senses mentioned above. However, these are linked to the transfer of knowledge about the landscapes, the senses of other species (insects, wild animals) and the historical and current use and maintenance of the landscapes.

Panoramic maps play a central role in communicating tourism offers. Classic hiking maps can only be understood and correctly interpreted by a relatively small proportion of visitors. The existing panoramic maps currently only focus on the ski areas, so that not all important parts of the nature park (especially Bad Bayersoien with Soier Lake, Ammerdurchbruch, Ettal and Linderhof Castle) can be shown.

The new panorama panels are now drawn panoramas linked to a digital terrain model. This allows the landscape to be adapted to the requirements of the Ammergau Alps (e.g., a relative reduction in the size of the 1st Ammer mountain range to better depict the sights in the Graswang Valley). Furthermore, thanks to the link to the digital terrain model, adjustments to paths or protected area boundaries can be easily integrated into the panorama. This allows for visitor guidance, particularly in sensitive areas of the nature park. In a further expansion phase (which is not part of the proposed project), real-time data, such as parking space occupancy, can also be integrated into an online presence.

As part of the project, summer and winter panoramas will be created and an additional detailed view of the rear Graswang Valley will be developed. The panoramas will be printed and placed at designated locations in the Ammergau Alps.

• The project aims to achieve the following:

    - an attractive and contemporary presentation of the entire Ammergau Alps Nature Park for tourist advertising

    - further raising awareness and sensitivity for the protected areas in the Ammergau Alps Nature Park.

    - Accessibility: The panoramas are scaled during online communication so that the content is easily readable

• The subject of the requested funding is:

    - Development of a 3D model for the area of ​​the Ammergau Alps Nature Park. Can be printed on any print media. A digital display on, for example, the website of Ammergauer Alpen GmbH and the Amergau Alps Nature Park is planned

    - Printing the 3D model on 70 panels

Information about the project

• Subject area:

  Mobility and Nature, Tourism, Regional Development

• Project number: BA0300092
• Project period: December 01, 2022 - March 31, 2024
• Project type: small project
• Action: Tourism in the Border Region
• Lead partner: Ammergauer Alpen GmbH
• Project partners: Tourism Association of the Reutte Nature Park Region (PP2); associated partners: Garmisch-Partenkirchen district, Ostallgäu district, Weilheim-Schongau district, Füssen Tourism and Marketing, Außerfern Regional Development (REA)
• Total cost: 32.860 €
• Funds requested: 24.645 €
• ERDF funding rate: 75% (European Regional Development Fund)

Around the Ammergau Alps, in the north along the B17 and St2059, in the east along the B23, south along the St2060, and in Tyrol along the L255 and 179, numerous cultural and nature-related excursion and starting points for nature- and culture-related leisure activities and tours are closely linked. These are particularly popular with locals and visitors on weekends from May to October. The resulting excursion traffic, mostly by car, places a strain on locals and the surrounding natural environment.

Public transport, designed for commuter and school travel, offers only minimal service on weekends. Currently, bus lines 9606 (Oberammergau-Füssen), 100 (Füssen-Reutte), and 9622 (Oberammergau-Linderhof) operate. The connection between Linderhof and Reutte will resume service in 2023 after many years of inactivity. This was initiated by the project and associated partners.

A ring bus could be used as a cross-regional and cross-country mobility service

• support the relief of traffic and natural areas,
• supplement the existing public transport offer with regard to leisure tourism use,
• develop new leisure tourism offers and usage possibilities based on public transport,
• support the development of cross-regional and cross-border leisure activities, oriented towards the leisure activities of the local population.

The ring bus line, for example, allows hikers to return comfortably to their starting point by bus on hikes with different starting and ending points, e.g. crossing the Ammergebirge.

The preliminary study, conducted by the Ammergau Alps and Reutte Nature Park Region Tourism Associations and their associated partners (public transport and tourism representatives from the district offices of Garmisch Partenkirchen, Ostallgäu, Weilheim-Schongau, Füssen Tourism and Marketing, and REA Außerfern), with the assistance of the transport planning office GEVAS, will therefore, in a first step, clarify, through surveys of potential users of the ring bus route, how the ring bus should best be designed to ensure that as many locals, day visitors, and overnight guests as possible will use the service. Based on these surveys, the planning office will then develop a draft timetable and a cost estimate for the implementation of the ring bus.

In addition, the project and associated partners will intensively communicate and promote the opportunities offered by the newly created line between Linderhof and Reutte as early as 2023.