Credit: Alex Loverre
On Wednesday 7 December 2022, the Regional Tourism Office of Central / Western Luxembourg (Office Régional du Tourisme - ORT Guttland) celebrated its fifth anniversary and presented a new masterplan.
ORT Guttland was created in 2016 with the support of Luxembourg's General Directorate for Tourism, but due to the COVID-19-related health crisis, the fifth anniversary celebrations were postponed to 2022. On Wednesday, ORT Guttland celebrated its anniverasy in the presence of Luxembourg's Minister for Tourism, Lex Delles, and over 100 guests in A Guddesch restaurant in Beringen.
Taking stock of the last five years, the event highlighted that many tourist projects, such as the "Slow Trips" project, adhering to the "Slow Tourism" philosophy, have been carried out in the tourist region, which is promoted under the name "Visit Guttland". The walking network was gradually reorganised and the "Guttland Trails" became the first trails in Europe to receive the certification "Leading Quality Trails – Best of Europe, Day Walk". Apart from the projects that ORT Guttland carries out itself, the regional tourist office also assumes an advisory role and supports its members and partners in the realisation of their own projects in order to promote qualitative tourist development throughout the region. These efforts have received recognition and the number of member municipalities has increased from nineteen to 28 since the creation of the ORT.
On this occasion, ORT Guttland adopted a new masterplan which has been developed in a participatory process with regional and national stakeholders and which will guide the work of the ORT over the coming years.
The Guttland tourist region has presented itself from the beginning as a destination for "Slow Tourism" and it will continue to pursue and deepen this in the future. The theme "Nature Based Wellness" will also be an important focus and rural, natural landscapes inviting relaxation will play a central role in the years to come. The region will also highlight its innovative and less-known side and will play more on its proximity to the capital city. The articulated vision for the year 2030 foresees recognition as a rural destination promoting the joy of living through the region's natural beauty and daily culture, thus offering visitors and locals mental and emotional relaxation. In order to achieve this vision, the ORT will rely on close collaboration with all partners, the development of authentic and qualitative experiences around rural tourism and the promotion of this identity inside and outside the region. To complete the masterplan, these different elements are broken down into actions aimed at the different stages of the visitor's journey from planning, to the trip itself and after the trip.
In this context, Minister Delles "congratulate[d] the Regional Tourism Office of Central / Western Luxembourg on its fifth anniversary and for its tireless commitment to the promotion of tourism in the Guttland region". He added: "I would also like to point out that the tourism strategy of the General Directorate for Tourism is supported by several guidelines, including the one providing for the strengthening of tourist regions. We take into account the specificities of the different regions and aim to support them in their respective development by promoting their strengths and potential. The Regional Tourism Office of Central / Western Luxembourg is a strong ally and a crucial player in this context [...] particularly at the level of the promotion of Guttland as a reference tourist destination for 'Slow Tourism'. Indeed, this region is distinguished by charming villages, imposing castles, unspoiled nature as well as numerous hiking trails and cycle routes that invite residents and tourists to discover Guttland”.
