On 25 October 2025, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vratsa (Bulgaria) held the first capacity-building event under the project “People-Powered Tourism (PPT): empowerment of local communities through co-designing experience based transformative travel to enhance visitor economy”, funded by the Interreg Danube Region Programme (DRP) 2021–2027.
The partnership brings together 14 organisations from 10 countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe, with the Municipality of Szeged (Hungary) acting as Lead Partner. The project aims to respond to the challenges of modern tourism by developing a visitor-economy approach that actively engages local communities and positions people as the key driver of sustainable development. This new model emphasises human relationships, unique local identities and personalised tourism experiences that generate real value for the local economy.
The event, held in one of the pilot locations — Bistrets neighbourhood (Vratsa, Bulgaria) — aimed to mobilise the local community and present the project’s main activities, expected results, and opportunities for involvement in shaping the destination’s development. During the discussion, participants identified key challenges and future steps related to unlocking the area’s tourism potential, as well as ways in which citizens, businesses, cultural initiatives and local institutions can contribute to the shared vision of community-led tourism.
Participants highlighted that sustainable tourism models can only succeed through coordinated efforts between public authorities, NGOs, local communities and the tourism sector, creating social added value and supporting the region’s economic development.
