Project Rijeka Bike won second place at the awarding ceremony of the UNWTO awards Projekt Bike Rijeka

After entering the finals for the prestigious award for excellence and innovations in tourism, awarded by the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) at the beginning of this year, the Bike Rijeka project took the second place at the awarding ceremony held in Madrid. On behalf of the Rijeka Tourist Board, Tourist Boards of the Rijeka Area, Creative Agency Molekula and the Agency Promotiv,

the award was received by Jasmina Hatežić from the Creative Agency Molekula and Dominik Damiš from the Rijeka Tourist Board.

The World Tourism Organization announces each year a competition for innovative projects from all around the world, and this year’s winner in the category of UNWTO Awards for Innovation in Research and Technology is the Itaipu Complex, a Brazilian project that promotes a tourism-based territorial development, while the second place is shared by Bike Rijeka and the medical tourism online platform from the Republic of Korea.

The UNWTO Awards, founded in 2003 by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), are the main awards in the global tourism sector. The award in the category of  Innovations in Research and Technology is awarded to the visionary pioneers whose initiative has helped the private sector, community, destination or country to increase the opportunities for using technology and advancing in the development of the sustainable tourism. The award recognizes inspirational scientific-research projects or initiatives in technological innovations that are proven effective in practical applications and are of measurable impact on the tourism sector.

The Rijeka Area Bike Route Project “Bike Rijeka” was launched in June 2014 with the aim of promoting Rijeka's Tourist Board and Tourist Boards of Rijeka Area more efficiently, combining the existing cycling trails as well as a newly conceived trail that links all the cities and municipalities of the Rijeka Area – the Bike Route.

Besides the Tourist Board of the City of Rijeka, the participants in this project were the Creative Agency Molekula and the Agency Promotiv, as well as the tourist boards of the Rijeka Area – of the Cities of Bakar, Kastav, Kraljevica, Municipality of Čavle, Municipality of Jelenje, Municipality of Kostrena, Municipality of Viškovo and Municipality of Klana. The project was also recognized and co-financed by the Croatian Tourist Board.

Besides the UNWTO award, the Bike Rijeka Project has already won the 2nd place in the category of "Electronic maps and travel guides", i.e. electronic maps and tour guides at the 12th International Cartographic Tour Map Festival, held in July 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic.