“I have asked for a grant in order to improve my family farm. I have decided to buy bicycles that would be a free additional offer to guests coming to my farm and restaurant. They can use the bikes to visit local wineries or go to Lonjsko Polje,” said Ivica Leskarac, the owner of the Leskarac family farm in Kutina, who received a grant for cyclo-tourism projects from Sisak-Moslavina County last week, reports Lokalni.hr on October 4, 2018.
Cyclotourism is a growing form of tourist activity, both globally and in Sisak-Moslavina County. It is estimated that, in the European context, the share of trips in which the bicycle is the main means of transportation will increase by 10% in the next 10 years. The current number of registered cyclotourists is about 23 million and they annually create 44 billion euro in tourist turnover.
Therefore, Sisak-Moslavina County has decided to encourage the development of this specific branch of tourism, and the Leskarac family farm has received additional 90,000 kuna from the County Tourist Board, as well as local boards in Sisak, Petrinja, Novska and Topusko.
“The development of cyclotourism in our county is essential for the development of tourism, and tourism is one of the strategic branches of development of this county. We all know that this county has great potential for tourism development and we see a great opportunity for us to become the centre of continental tourism. The Adriatic coast is saturated with tourists and a large number of foreigners and tourists coming to Croatia are slowing moving to areas such as this. This opportunity must be taken advantage of,” said Sisak-Moslavina County Prefect Ivo Žinić.
A total of eight projects were nominated for the public call issued by Sisak-Moslavina County, six of which met all the conditions. “We as a county have several projects for the development of cyclotourism. We completed one last year, together with the Ministry of Tourism, when we marked all the bicycle routes. We have 25 county and local bicycle routes totalling more than 1,000 kilometres. I believe that these grants will further increase the number of routes available. We have also published a map with all the routes and developed a mobile phone app where you can see the routes with all the tourist facilities,” the prefect added.
Novska has also received grants for the cycling tourism development. “The town of Novska, in partnership with the county, has invested more than 10 million kuna this year in the construction of six kilometres of cycling trails in Novska and Bročica. We are also in discussion to continue with the construction of the road which leads to the Lonjsko Polje Nature Park, which would provide Novska and the county will additional ten kilometres of bicycle routes in the next two years,” said Novska Mayor Marin Piletić.
Translated from Lokalni.hr (reported by Danijel Prerad).
