New Documentary: Outdoor and Adventure in the Western Balkans

The research project Open Tourism Data Initiative for Emerging Destinations in Southeast Europe (OTDI-SEE) brought together Outdooractive and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to increase the visibility of the Western Balkans as an outdoor and adventure travel destination through digitization. The newly released documentary summarizes how the project managers and local stakeholders have successfully achieved this.

Visibility and reach are key elements when a destination wants to attract potential guests. This is a major challenge for many destinations in developing and emerging countries, even though tourism is often the most important source of income in rural regions. Countries such as Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia often lack functioning and financially stable destination management and marketing organizations. Small to medium-sized service providers usually depend on themselves when it comes to marketing their offers.

Outdooractive and GIZ have been working together since 2021 as part of the OTDI-SEE project to increase visibility as an outdoor and adventure destination in developing and emerging countries through digitalization. The Western Balkans, with their untouched nature, cultural diversity and many possibilities for sustainable tourism, served as an exemplary region. Until now, the region has lacked digital maps, reliable information and structured marketing.

Since the project started, over 220 local partners have been trained, including content creators, employees of tourism organizations and various tourism service providers. The goal is to integrate local expertise directly into route planning and in the Outdooractive Travel Guide in order to make the content digitally accessible worldwide and guarantee safe travel planning.

“Outdooractive is the world’s leading platform for outdoor and adventure tourism. We have the most advanced digital features, both for outdoor enthusiasts and for those who develop and offer services. That is why Outdooractive is the perfect match for the Western Balkans. This region is already an absolute paradise for adventure travel, but it lacks visibility in international markets. As a platform, we can give it this visibility,” says Simon Reuter, Senior Research and Partnership Manager at Outdooractive and OTDI-SEE project manager.

The figures speak for themselves: to date, over 220 local stakeholders have been trained, more than 1,800 routes and 700 points of interest have been digitized via the platform and the virtual Travel Guide has recorded over 1 million page views. “I am really impressed by the figures we have achieved. Through the training, we have managed to digitize tourism content and guarantee profound know-how in our region. We have been able to create valuable synergies, and our tourism content now is much more visible. The demand for the Western Balkans is visibly increasing. We also see a new generation of workers, which is a driving factor in tourism,” says Anica Palazzo, Advisor GIZ North Macedonia.