Synergy effects

Cross-border collaboration

The European cooperation is based on the idea of common advertising on the international tourism market in order to create and use positive synergy effects. The Tourist Agency has been involved in cross-border cooperation for years. More than 10 years ago, the Tourist Agency was one of the founding members of the EEIG Eifel-Ardennes Marketing, and even plays an exemplary pioneering role in this field.

Regional cooperations

Regional partners

The East Belgium Tourist Agency invites the tourist businesses to participate in the destination marketing. In 2023, the East Belgium Tourist Agency counted 199 members.

About 200 tourism businesses place their trust in the East Belgium Tourist Agency:

33 excursion destinations
8 camping sites
3 holiday villages
60 holiday homes
17 catering establishments
18 guest rooms
6 hostels
41 hotels
15 winter sports centres

National cooperations

Partner structures inside the country

In 2017, a revised legal basis for the promotion of sustainable tourism was created by the government of the German-speaking Community under the leadership of the Minister of Tourism Isabelle Weykmans. The new tourism code includes the organisation and description of the tourism operators, the subsidisation of tourism organisations and initiatives for the promotion of tourism as well as the operating conditions and classification of tourist accommodation establishments.

The East Belgium Tourist Agency was given an advisory role in the work by the Tourism Department of the Ministry. The Tourism Decree creates, where possible, the legal conditions for the implementation of the tourism mission statement 2025. The implementation of the management contract of the EBTA with the government based on the mission statement was assessed generally positively by the responsible Minister Weykmans in the Monitoring Committee of 7 December 2017.

VISITWallonia.be

The tourist landscape at the level of the Walloon Region has undergone major changes in recent years. After the Houses for Tourism were reformed, Brussels separated from the WBT. The new statutes of "Wallonie Belgique Tourisme", now responsible for the entire tourist marketing of Wallonia at home and abroad, came into force at the beginning of 2017.

www.walloniebelgiquetourisme.be

Wallonie Tourisme CGT

The CGT is responsible for the implementation of decrees and regulations in the tourism sector. It manages, among other things, subsidies for tourist equipment, has a role in the classification, designation approval and subsidisation of accommodation establishments, helps to improve the reception and information of tourists and is responsible for the promotion of tourism in Wallonia.

www.tourismewallonie.be

Tourism Federation of the Province of Liège

The Tourism Federation of the Province of Liège (FTPL) is focusing on a development role aimed at supporting and professionalizing service providers in collaboration with, and with the assistance of, the General Commission for Tourism, as well as other regional and (supra-)local bodies.

It positions itself as a close contact for local providers, in particular para-provincial non-profit organizations (Blegny-Mine, Domaines Touristiques du Vallon de la Lembrée, High Fens-Eifel Nature Park). Tourism service providers have a real need for support because of the complexity of their profession, the size of their businesses, their financial resources and the time they must devote to these tourist activities.

For this reason, the FTPL adopts a citizen-centred attitude and is making the support, advice, guidance, training and professionalization of those who "do" tourism on a daily basis an absolute priority. The mobilization of actors should be at the heart of territorial development, fuelling a local economic dynamic.

www.liegetourisme.be

International cooperations

EEIG Eifel-Ardennes Marketing

Since its foundation about 15 years ago, the EEIG Eifel-Ardennes Marketing has established itself as a permanent cross-border marketing structure. The board members regularly organize work sessions and meetings for information exchange.

As a result, a joint Interreg project was initiated:RANDO-M aims to connect cross-border cycling routes through storytelling, as well as create a new long-distance hiking trail through East Belgium, linking to the existing Eifelsteig trail. The project will conclude in October 2023.

Best of Wandern

Equipment suppliers, tour operators, online mail order companies, a tour platform and ten hiking regions in five European countries are cooperating under the brand Best of Wandern (BoW). At the heart of the cooperation are the regional "test centres", which provide guests with modern hiking equipment (shoes, umbrellas, binoculars or backpacks, ...) free of charge.

www.best-of-wandern.de

EGWA, European Greenways Association

The "European Greenways Association" campaigns at European level for the promotion and creation of so-called "greenways". These are old railway tracks or towpaths that have been converted into car-free cycling/walking paths and are used in particular for leisure activities or commuting.

EGWA was founded in 1998 in Namur and has more than 50 member organisations from 16 countries. Together, they regularly implement European projects that focus in particular on sustainable concepts and environmentally friendly mobility around greenways.