Short history of the cluster
The idea of establishing a cluster was conceived in 2007 so that the cluster would be registered in January 2008 in the Provincial Secretariat of Culture; because that was the only way, it could be formalized. In 2012, during the change of the Law on Funds, the cluster kept its name but was classified as a foundation.
The main activity of the cluster is to generate previous research in the field of tourism and areas that have points of contact with tourism for the purpose of tourist valorization of micro region resources, through the project. Cooperation with other regions and the transfer of good practice, training, designing a tourist offer by creating tours and routes are part of the most important goals of the cluster.
The cluster includes the relevant catering and tourist offer of the micro-region. The members of the cluster are the SMEs and the micro-enterprises who provide high quality services. They do not have the individual capacity to engage in research in addition to their core business, but as important points on tours and routes, they are included in the tourist offer. In addition to these organizations, the cluster has several supporting members, the most important of which are: TIMS-Fakultet za sport i turizam Novi Sad (Faculty of Sports and Tourism in Novi Sad), Udruženje Eco-life za eko turizam (Eco-life Association for Eco Tourism), Udruženje eksperata za ekologiju Rihard Čornai Subotica (Richárd Csornai Association of Ecology Experts in Subotica), as well as other associations and institutions with whom the cluster has signed cooperation agreements. During the past years, the cluster competed in the competitions of the Ministry of Economy, the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, and almost every year it received incentived funds for project ideas for some research activities and development of the cluster. From EU funds, the cluster was successful in the following applications:
- SEE projekat ATRIUM
- IPA CRO-SRB projekat EXPLORE
- Dunavska strategija projekat ECO VELO TOUR
- RCC projekat Rute jahanja kroz Balkan
- IPA CRO-SRB projekat Panona net.
The cluster received its own participation in the implementation of projects from EU funds from the Provincial Secretariat for Finance.
Within all projects, the results were new tourism products, thematic tourist routes, tours and routes involving cluster members, but also other service providers from the region of Bačka and Banat. Within the project activities, experts of various profiles, with whom the cluster cooperates, gather. Studies and thematic tourism strategies as part of the project results include a large amount of information, data, and maps for certain types of tourism, based on which receptive travel agencies can make various tourist packages, arrangements.