Nature Trip Excursion Planner Tyrol / Seefeld Region

The web application NaturTrip links public transport schedule data with activities and excursion destinations, providing appropriate suggestions based on this information. Since early May, Tirol Werbung has made this service available throughout Tyrol.

Innsbruck, May 8, 2023 (Tirol Werbung) – Those looking to do something during their leisure time or vacation often resort to using their cars for convenience. With NaturTrip, there's a solution to plan excursions using public transport easily and quickly. After the Wilder Kaiser region gathered positive experiences as a pilot region with the web application, Tirol Werbung has extended this service to all of Tyrol beginning May, available at naturtrip.tirol.at. Tourism associations (TVBs) can join, as the TVB Seefeld has already done. Other TVBs are working on the implementation.

Customized suggestions
NaturTrip follows a simple principle: the online service connects schedule data with activities or opening hours and suggests appropriate tours or excursion destinations that can be reached from the chosen starting point quickly and without many transfers using public transport. This way, users no longer need to waste time gathering information from various websites. NaturTrip takes care of that and targets locals, guests, and hosts with this service.

NaturTrip not only provides information but also inspiration: users just need to enter their location, interests (for example, hiking or swimming), and the maximum acceptable travel duration to receive relevant suggestions. To ensure everyone gets home on time, the application also displays the latest possible return trip.

Save time, nerves, and CO2
NaturTrip users save not only the need to find and pay for parking but also contribute significantly to environmental protection. They will also learn how substantial their contribution is: in addition to the route, the application shows how long the same trip would have taken by car and how much CO2 was saved. "Tirol Werbung has been advocating for the strengthening of public mobility for many years – both for arrival and on-site. NaturTrip connects the quality of recreation and vacation in Tyrol with the offerings of public transport, encouraging people to leave their cars behind. This contributes to relieving our roads. Less traffic means less pollution, less noise, and less congestion," says Karin Seiler, managing director of Tirol Werbung, expressing her enthusiasm for the new offering.

The service is provided by the startup NaturTrip GmbH from Berlin, which started with a pilot project in Berlin and Brandenburg in 2015. "More and more people want to live and travel sustainably. We are rolling out the red carpet into buses and trains with digital means. The easier public transport becomes, the more people will switch from cars," says Hermann Weiß, co-founder of NaturTrip. "Regions that integrate our application can also reach new target groups, such as young urban people who drive little, or seniors who are reluctant to take the wheel," adds NaturTrip managing director Andreas Boos.

Sustainable offers for regions
The Wilder Kaiser region recognized this early: NaturTrip has been part of www.wilderkaiser.info since 2020 and is available as a planning tool for all leisure users. "Mobility is a key issue for the quality of life of locals, employees, and guests in our region. NaturTrip supports our aim to reduce individual traffic. In addition to providing sufficient alternatives to private cars, we also need tools like NaturTrip that make the new solutions simple and thus convenient. Therefore, usability has been a focus of this project from the start," emphasizes Lukas Krösslhuber, managing director of TVB Wilder Kaiser.

With the recent expansion of NaturTrip across Tyrol, Tirol Werbung is also offering tourism associations the opportunity to join. The TVB Seefeld is already taking advantage of this: "We are starting a large-scale mobility initiative", reports Elias Walser, managing director of TVB Seefeld. "From summer, our region will be perfectly connected via bus and train. A crucial component of this is NaturTrip. With this, we can provide our guests and the local population with an excellent tool to plan their excursions in the region using public transport easily." Walser sees the mobility initiative as an important step towards sustainable regional development: "We want to encourage our guests to leave their own cars at home, travel to our region by bus and train, and explore it using public transport. Coupled with longer stays, we can highlight potential for CO2 savings and continue to develop in a core area of our sustainability strategy, mobility."