Over the coming three years, the Danube Lower Austrian Visitors` Ring will be organising a comprehensive package of qualification measures with training courses, workshops and excursions in a LEADER cooperation project for establishments in the Wachau and Nibelungengau. The landlords should be provided with business training and prepared for future challenges. The changing needs of guests as a result of demographic changes should be identified and the offer adjusted to Holiday on the Farm establishments, vineyards and private room landlords.

In recent years, a number of initiatives have established themselves in the region in late autumn and winter which have had a very positive impact on the development of tourism and thus on extending the season. Apart from the long-distance hiking trail “World Heritage Trail Wachau”, which can be easily hiked even in the colder months thanks to the mild climate, numerous cultural initiatives, such as “ELIT” (European literature days), “Wachau in Echtzeit” (Wachau in Real Time - curated by Ursula Strauss) as well as many Advent markets and culinary events have become established. The implementation of the mobility concept (bus connections) means that all municipalities in the region can now also be easily reached without a car.

The municipalities of Mautern, Bergern, Furth, Rossatz-Arnsdorf and Schönbühel-Aggsbach will be intensifying their collaboration over the coming years and focusing on the common positioning of the south bank. Under the direction of Martin Vogg, who was previously responsible for the project Wachau 2010 plus, existing offers should be combined with new ones and wrapped up into bookable packages, starting with the two locations of Maria Langegg and the Aggsbach Charterhouse.

The Management Plan for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Wachau was presented at Göttweig Abbey on 29 March 2017.

The loop hiking trail on both sides of the Danube connects existing trails and makes it possible to explore the unique landscape of the Wachau on foot. In this way, the Wachau can be appreciated from a new perspective on 14 stages distributed over approx. 180 varied kilometres.

The aim of Wachau 2010plus was to further develop the cultural and landscape gem of the Wachau by restaging its cultural and tourism activities in harmony with the people who live and work in the region. Doing so should reveal the special quality of this cultural landscape to visitors.

Almost all municipalities in the LEADER region have taken in people who have fled from war and persecution in recent months. At the same time, committed citizens everywhere are taking care of these people on a voluntary basis – both during the asylum procedure and after they become recognised refugees. This work is challenging and takes up a lot of time. Providing these committed citizens with intensive support can give them the knowledge they need to increase the efficiency of their work through networking or to assist them in times of crisis.

One topic that has preoccupied the region for many years is the lack of a crossing over the Danube between Melk and Spitz near the towns of Aggsbach-Markt and Aggsbach-Dorf. After several unsuccessful attempts to set up a conventional bicycle ferry between them, the two towns are now pursuing an unconventional approach: in the future, they could be connected by a cableway across the Danube.

...is an online platform for practical scientific papers on regional development in Lower Austria. Students and topic providers meet at a “topic market place”. This is made possible by the six LEADER regions of Donau NÖ-Mitte, Kamptal, Niederösterreich Süd, Römerland Carnuntum, Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald and Weinviertel-Manhartsberg, for which the active search for diploma students is a major concern. The platform at www.diplomarbeitsboerse.at put the topics and issues of the regions/municipalities in contact with students and vice versa as a way of bringing fresh ideas and science perspectives to the regions.

A lot of restructuring has taken place in the municipality of Krems and at its affiliated establishments, associations and contractors in recent years. These processes have given rise to the company Krems Tourismus GmbH, whose sole shareholder is the town of Krems.