The project primarily aims to strengthen the Danube regional cultural identity and brand by fostering transnational cultural ties between the settlements along the Danube, and at the same time, by exploring the unused or hidden cultural and social capital resources of this regional network. The main goal of the project is to create a comprehensive tourism strategy connecting all cities along the Danube and their culture, unifying these into one tourism destination brand, offering thematic routes and development possibilities that can increase the number of visitors and can prolong their stay in the region. Important project partners are the relevant regional municipalities, universities, NGOs and professional market based agencies active in this field. The main objectives of the project are most relevant to the PA 03, as it develops a “Danube Brand” for cities (T1), proposes a better monitoring of tourist movements and spendings (T2), develops new “Cultural Routes” (T3), adds to the Danube cultural identity by research and specific programs (T5), ensures the preservation of heritage in cities adding new uses and interpretation (T6), and promotes exchange and networking in fields of tourism studies, tourism industries and cultural and artistic institutions (T7). At the same time DANUrB is strongly related to the area of Knowledge Society (PA 07, with special recommendation of this Steering Group), Competitiveness of the region’s enterprises (PA 08), and Institutional capacity building and cooperation (PA 10). The project has the following impacts on the Danube Region: - Economic impacts of a comprehensive transnational tourism strategy: more visitors spending more days in the region, visiting destinations outside the main tourist gaze. Result: more activity in the hotel and catering industry, more jobs, more spending in local retail venues of the involved cities - Social impacts of a transnational cultural and research project: new form of collaboration among scholars, policy makers, cultural institutions and members of the civil society, innovative forms of education and dissemination - Social impacts of the strategic planning of urban tourism: more balanced relationship between locals and tourists, benefits to the local entrepreneurship in urban areas with increased tourist traffic - Environmental impacts of a tourism strategy focusing on waterfront cities: awareness of the role of natural waterfronts, recreational use of the river and of the importance of environmental corridors through cities - Cultural impacts of a defined transnational cultural region: increased cultural identity reaching through the borders, awareness of the common cultural bonds and heritage, valuation of the built heritage on waterfront situations, new cultural networks among institutions and municipalities, reinterpretation of the socialist heritage Expected Results: A comprehensive transnational cultural and research project aiming a comprehensive tourism strategy will have the following results:- Economic impacts: more visitors spending more bed-nights in the region, more activity in the hotel and catering industry, more jobs, more spending in local retail venues of the involved cities- Social impacts: new forms of collaboration among scholars, policy makers, cultural institutions and members of the civil society; innovative forms of education and dissemination; more balanced relationship between locals and tourists- Environmental impacts: awareness of the role of natural waterfronts, recreational use of the river and of the importance of environmental corridors through cities- Cultural impacts: increased cultural identity reaching through borders, awareness and valuation of the common cultural bonds and heritage, new cultural networks among institutions and municipalities, reinterpretation of the post-war heritage