On Friday, April 30, immediately after the kick-off conference, a press conference was held where the project Active Tourism Meets Advanced Technology in Cross-Border Area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. was presented to the general public. Partners on the project are Varaždin County as leading partner and Varaždin County Tourism Board on Croatian side, while the Hungarian partners are the Municipality of Csurgó and the University of Pannonia, Nagykanizsa campus.

The project Active Tourism Meets Advanced Technology in Cross-Border Area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is worth a total of 1,245,215.36 euros (9,339,115 kuna), and 85 percent is co-financed from the European Regional Development Fund, or the Cross-Border Cooperation Program INTERREG VA Hungary - Croatia 2014-2020.

It was emphasized at the press conference that the basement of the County Palace on Franjevački trg will be reconstructed and repurposed for tourism as part of the project. A visitor center will be established, which will be equipped with high technology in order to present the heritage in an unusual, educational and attractive way. The funds envisaged for the implementation of activities to be carried out by Varaždin County amount to EUR 557,780.78, and a total of EUR 84,957.50 is planned for the Varaždin County Tourism Board.

Varaždin County Prefect Radimir Čačić expressed his satisfaction with participating in this project.

- The seat of this County in the center of Varaždin opens the possibility for us to form a presentation center with modern technologies in these unused basements that will show both natural and cultural heritage to visitors through an active approach so that they virtually pass through our castles, caves, volcanoes and everything what technology gives and offers. It is quite certain that the visitors themselves, ie tourists, will be encouraged to physically visit all these areas. One of the most important, and not so cheap components of this space is a kind of game, which will be used for looking and “collecting” locations/sites. It is good, convenient and attractive. The whole story comes to around 5 million kuna, it is funded by the EU with our additional funding for special software funding. You know that partners from Hungary are also participating, and we will complete it by building a dome over the atrium. So, this is a complex project that will talk about the most valuable things that our county has to offer. We are glad that we started the project and we are looking forward to its realization - said the prefect and expressed hope that this project will be a strong impetus for the development of tourism in Varaždin County.

Head of the Administrative Department for Economy and European Affairs Mladen Jakopović pointed out that the main goals of the project are to integrate the heritage of the cross-border area through the development of a common cross-border tourist attraction, to develop new tourism concepts with a high share of ICT and increase the awareness of target groups in the cross-border area about the economic, social and tourist value of heritage.

- The project started at the beginning of this year, and the planned completion is at the end of next year. This project is the conceptual basis for the development of individual specific destinations that visitors will be able to see live after visiting this center. The ultimate goal is certainly to increase the number of days that tourists spend in Varaždin County - said the head Jakopović.

The President of the Varaždin County Tourism Board, Željko Bedeković, pointed out that after this project, tourism in Varaždin County will no longer be the same.

- Four years ago, we set EU projects as a priority in the goals of work and interests of the Tourist Board. The last project funded by the EU in a significant amount was many years ago, so the greater the importance of this project.

Some of the many activities that will be carried out by the Tourist Board are the development of communication strategy, development of project web portal, creation of owner database and analysis of cultural and natural heritage potential, creation of visual identity of tourist product, guidelines for marketing and promotion of tourist product/ heritage managers and education for tourism service providers, e-learning module development, etc.

But the greatest attention and activities will be on the creation of content that will be presented in the newly renovated and equipped basement. We want to create a central, unavoidable and starting place from which tourists will learn more about the cultural and natural features of our county. The only volcano in Croatia, the Pannonian Sea, Ivančica, Ravna Gora, Kalnik and Drava that formed the landscape, the Neanderthals in the Vindija cave, the tumulus in Jalžabet, the Romans, the oldest county, dozens of castles and forts. This and much more will come to life in the historic basements of the Varaždin County Palace - concluded Željko Bedeković.