The Seville headquarters of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment has hosted the conference “Greenways of Andalusia: the economic boost of bicycle tourism”, organised by the Association of Greenways of Andalusia (AVVA),

Ignacio Torres, deputy director of the Biodiversity Foundation, inaugurated the conference, which was attended by technicians and experts from public administrations and private companies related to the tourism, sports, environment and employment sectors in order to analyse the current situation of the Greenways in Spain and Andalusia, as well as the potential of these roads for the development of the territory.

The Greenways are old railway routes rehabilitated so that they are accessible on foot, by bicycle or for people with reduced mobility, and in which dissemination and public awareness activities are also carried out. Currently, Spain has more than 2,400 kilometres of routes conditioned as 120 accessible roads, of which 24 are located in Andalusia. In the future, the adaptation of another 6,000 kilometers of railway routes is planned.

The rehabilitation of the routes began in 1993 and has been carried out by the various Ministries, the Junta de Andalucía, ADIF and RENFE, through the Greenways Program coordinated by the Spanish Railways Foundation (FFE). Since 2005, the Biodiversity Foundation has supported the Greenways Programme with more than 410,000 euros invested in seven different projects that have improved the accessibility of the roads and have raised awareness among citizens about respect for the environment and biodiversity.

This day was followed by the “Meeting of entrepreneurs: cooperation for the creation of the tourist product greenways of Andalusia” in which cooperation between the different actors was promoted to work on the revitalization of the roads.