Every year, around one million tourists from Holland visit the Alps, including many mountaineers. Around 65,000 of them are members of the NKBV. This makes it one of the largest alpine association outside the Alps. Gert van Beek is heading the NKBV commitee for sustainability. He says: "We want to contribute to sustainable tourism in the Alps. Therefore, we want to raise the awareness for sustainability issues also among our members. CIPRA International is the perfect partner for this.”

Exchange of knowledge and information

The cooperation is intended to provide more in-depth information on the need to respect the limits of the alpine landscape and its background. Recommendations or even joint projects for nature-friendly tourism could also be developed. The cooperation starts off with exchange of knowlegde and information on projects and activities that deal with travelling, mountaineering and tourism in the Alpine Arc. Kaspar Schuler, Director of CIPRA International: “The NKBV can benefit from CIPRA's extensive background knowledge of all sustainability issues. CIPRA gets the chance to enter into an exchange with future mountain walkers/alpine tourists directly - and even before they arrive."