HeuVital stands for a sustainable accentuation concept in the municipality Pfronten in the Allgäu. New value creation chains with hay and the connection of local cycles facilitate an extensive mountainscape and environment oriented tourism. Controlled hay stemming from ecologically and aesthetically valuable mountainous meadows is not only used up as fodder, but is also locally utilised and marketed as high-grade personal-care and consumption products. In the meantime a real “hay-cult” has emerged: Let’s jump into the hay!
Project executive
Municipality Pfronten with the office Pfronten Tourism.
Responsible Person:
Schubert Jan
Tourismusdirektor
Vilstalstraße 2, 87459, Pfronten, Deutschland
jan.schubert@pfronten.de
08363/69838
08363/69866
Participants
Municipality Pfronten, BTW Kurmittel GmbH, local tourism companies, local alliance "Forum", landwirtschaftliche Direktvermarktung "PfAD", Hotel- und Gaststättenverband
Objectives
- Processing and marketing of hay from mountainous meadows in the fields of wellness and health
- Creation of alternative income sources for mountain farmers by purchasing hay from mountain meadows
- Maintainance of mountain meadows by the use of the mown material and demand-driven motivation for the continued utilisation instead of governmental driven (subsidised) substitutional demand
- Contribution of the local hosts (lessors) of all business types (ranging from holidays on a farm to the 4-stars hotel), since the offerings of hay-related services and products hardly need any investments / infrastructures coming from the hosts.
- The municipality achievies name and recognition as a „hay-region“ on the tourism market.
- Connection of the hay-related services and products with different holiday activities (e.g. as part of a body and soul regeneration cure after sports).
- Formation of a “Heu-Vital promotional pool” for the collective marketing of …
…zur gemeinsamen Vermarktung Ort und Mitgliedsbetriebe
Activities
-- Offering of hay-related services and products based on the legally protected source material HEUROMED, which is produced in a distillation facility of an ancient petrol station
- Marketing of hay-related services and supplies: hay-massages and –packings, hay-pillows, hay-fleece, hay-plunger with hay-oil, personal-care products made from hay, hay-schnaps, hay-liqueur
- Hay-celebrations including nominations of hay-quees (until 2005 Katharina I., 3. hay-queen of Pronten)
- Arrangement of a hay-museum in an old barn
- Realisation of a mountainous meadow path passing the municipality Pfronten
- Presentation of the hay-related services and products on consumer-expositions and tourism exhibitions
- Conception of the hay-label „Heu Vital“, in order to distribute it to partners that fulfil the terms of a license (e.g. quality norms)
- Conception of a promotional pool to coordinate and concentrate communal and private advertising media (public private parthership)
- Informative events
- Production of digital and printed information media
Process
Tradtional project management and deveopment. No specific methods were used.
Results
Results:
- Production and marketing of hay-related products and services
- Creation of additional incomes for mountain farmers from sales of hey as raw material for the subsequent upgrading by the BTW Kurmittel GmbH
- Conservation of single mountain meadows and consequently of the attractive characteristic landscape as well as the habitats for rare animal and plant species
- Achieved name and recognition as a hay-region on the tourism market including a hey-cult:
hay-queen, hay-celebrations, hay-museum and a nature trail (hay trail)
Aims:
- Joining of further hosts and partners from the local retail trade
- Gaining further name and recognition as hay-region (increasing publicity)
- Strengthen the market position by the establishment of the high-quality brand “HeuVital” for health- and wellness offerings on the basis of hay
- Increasing the utilisation of accommodations and reaching higher gains in different sectors
Evaluation
No evaluation data available.
Difficulties
- Forthcoming change of generations of “the initiators of the first generation”: Promotion/Information
- The inclusion of as many partners as possible from different sectors is harder than expected: Promotion/Information
- The alliance of hay-cure has been liquidated due to a lack of honorary participants (31.12.2005): Hay marketing by Pfronten tourism
- Sales problems of BTW: Build-up of professional sales channels
- Name recognition not high enough: Intensification of Promotion
Budget
200.000 seit 1993 (Euro)
Financial backer
Municipality Pfronten, BTW Kurmittel GmbH, local tourism companies
In der Allgäuer Tourismusgemeinde Pfronten hat sich in den letzten Jahren mit der inzwischen dritten Heukönigin, Heufesten, Heumuseum, Heulehrpfad, Heuwickeln, Heukissen, Heukörperpflegeprodukten, Heumassagen und -wickeln, Heukompressen und -Kissen, Heuschnäpsen und –likören sowie Heustempel mit Heuöl ein regelrechter Heukult entwickelt.
Das Bergwiesenheu wird nach der Lagerung gehäckselt, in Leinensäcke eingeblasen und vernäht. Diese Heuwickel werden in Handarbeit in Pfronten hergestellt.
