Nordsee-Reisepass – The passport that turns the coast into a journey

A holiday on the North Sea coast is often about small moments: a short walk, a museum stop, a view over the dunes. The Nordsee-Reisepass takes those moments and turns them into a story travellers can follow.

It works like a playful passport. Travellers and locals collect stamps at more than 250 places across Lower Saxony’s North Sea coastline, from museums and visitor centres to natural sites. Some stamping points sit outdoors, slightly off the usual route. They invite people to explore new corners, not just the busy highlights. A simple QR code adds a second layer: short videos explain what makes each place special, and introduce topics like coastal life, climate and biodiversity in an easy, on-the-spot way. 

But the passport doesn’t stop at discovery. It has a clear “give-back” loop. The money earned from passport sales is reinvested locally through Green Action Week: a yearly week of planting and community work. In just two years, around 250 participants planted more than 3,700 trees and plants at 11 sites, creating small new green spaces along the coast, including tiny forests and a food forest. These spaces are open to everyone passing by. 

This is why it’s a best practice. The project is simple to join, easy to enjoy, and it keeps growing. Travel keeps it alive: each passport bought helps fund the next round of local action, while also spreading visitors more evenly across the coastline.

Credits: ETC

ReTour – From coastal destinations to places that thrive

In Lithuania’s Klaipėda Region, the Baltic coast is wide and open. Dunes, wetlands and fishing villages sit close together, shaped by wind, water and everyday life. It is a place people come to breathe. But it is also a place that can be fragile, especially when tourism is concentrated into a short summer season.

ReTour is helping the region take a different path. Instead of chasing volume, the project supports a tourism offer that strengthens nature and communities, and keeps value close to home. It is built around regenerative tourism: not only reducing impact, but using travel to restore what makes the place worth visiting in the first place.

The work starts locally. Tourism businesses, community actors and destination partners come together to define what “regenerative” should mean here, in this landscape. They draw inspiration from tested approaches and then try new ideas on the ground in Klaipėda Region. New experiences are being developed and refined, rooted in local nature, traditions and real coastal life, with practical tools that help small businesses measure progress and improve sustainability step by step.

The aim is to make Klaipėda Region thrive year-round. More meaningful experiences. Stronger local livelihoods. Healthier coastal and wetland areas that stay vibrant for generations.

Tourism helps make this possible. When travellers choose experiences that give back, they support local jobs, encourage better visitor behaviour, and help protect the very places they came to enjoy.

Credits: ETC