Sloww! is a river tourism business opportunity organised by VNF that take place every two years.  The latest event was held at the Palais des Congrès in Arles from 7-9 Nov 2022 and was attended by tourist information office, planners, local authorities, river operators, tour operators, plant managers: Around 500 participants met up in 4 Villages, held 3000 business meetings!

The village was arranged to focus on the “tourism activities on & along waterways” and operators promoted their ‘offers’ which included: Cycling (journey organisation and rental) Boating (private booking or rental) Business boats and Cruises, Floating restaurants, Horse riding + many more. Visitors were invited to discover the latest trends and meet the experts!

In addition to the important networking opportunities (very nice) lunches and dinners visitors had the opportunity to attend 9 different workshops, which were a great opportunity to hear in more detail about contemporary issues around waterway tourism. Of particular relevance to many NIWE members were those that looked at; “’Green motorisation’: what are the alternatives for river operators?”, “The expectations of American clients for river cruises”, “Sponsorship and river heritage”, and “The attractiveness of river tourism occupations.”

€8m donated over the 8 years of the project, with donors from 70 companies and 20,000 individuals (all useful for recruitment as ‘membership’ or ‘friends’)

NIWE members attending the conference were able to hold a meeting the afternoon before. Among items discussed were the need to transfer leadership of NIWE from Canal & River Trust in 2023, potential new members from Finland and Germany, our project idea prospects raised at the last meeting in London, and VNF’s Canal du Midi replanting project fundraising appeal which has seen €8m donated over the 8 years of the project, with donors from 70 companies and 20,000 individuals (all useful for recruitment as ‘membership’ or ‘friends’)

Danny thanked Nicolas and VNF for the invitation to the Sloww! event and for accommodating the NIWE meeting at such a busy time.