Treasure hunters, animal whisperers, stargazers… watch out! Upper Austria is once again turning into a stage for nature lovers. The term “natural spectacle”, which has already become synonymous with experience and adventure, is once again used this year as the largest nature experience program in Austria.
150 tours, 40 locations, 180 nature educators
From the adventure in the Gschliefgraben to the search for aliens in the stream to the discovery tour by bike in the moors, from the treasure in the Almtal to the exploration of the superpowers of the trees to the fascination of Dachstein in summer: 150 different tours at 40 locations in Upper Austria are available to choose from. 180 nature educators accompany the adventurers – the small ones as well as the large ones organized in groups and the spontaneous ones. The 15th season of the “natural spectacle” was opened yesterday at a press conference in Linz.
Image: natural spectacle
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Image: natural spectacle
And the numbers are impressive: 284,773 participants in 16,166 tours were counted over the years. The natural experience created by Andreas Kupfer and his team at the Institute for Applied Environmental Education (IFAU) has long since become an important factor for business and tourism – in addition to its most important task, raising people’s awareness of nature. Consequently, Manfred Haimbuchner, nature conservation officer and deputy state governor (FP), also said that laws on nature conservation played a crucial role, “but even 100 laws” could not increase acceptance for nature conservation in the same way as a visit to one of these tours.
State Economics Councilor Markus Achleitner (VP) also echoes this sentiment: “Everything you know, you want to protect.” The fact that the two of them appear together with Andreas Winkelhofer, Managing Director of Upper Austria Tourism, also shows the importance that this platform of nature educators now has. “Not only in Austria, but also from outside the borders, people look at Upper Austria with envy,” says Haimbuchner. It is a wonderful combination between “appreciation of our nature and the resulting added value for tourism,” says Achleitner.
“Nature is the central motif for our guests,” adds Winkelhofer, who also wants to appeal to tourists in addition to the existing “natural actors” from the state. “Anyone who takes part in the ‘natural spectacle’ takes home a souvenir 2.0 from their holiday, namely knowledge,” he says.
