Since 2024, the Ekopolis Foundation, together with 15 partners from seven countries, has been implementing the Inclusive Border Cycling (IBC) project. The project promotes cycling tourism in the border regions of the Danube countries while actively engaging senior citizens and disadvantaged groups of young people. An important part of the project is connecting cycling tourism with cultural heritage through storytelling—sharing the unique histories of places and communities along the route.
In Slovakia, the project focuses on the EuroVelo 6 – Danube Cycle Route between Komárno and Štúrovo. Completed in 2023, this section now runs almost entirely on dedicated cycle paths through peaceful natural surroundings. As a result, it offers a significantly safer, more comfortable, and more enjoyable experience than the alternative route on the Hungarian side of the Danube, where cyclists often share busy roads with heavy truck traffic and pass industrial areas.
Alongside improving services for cyclists and encouraging greater participation of senior citizens, one of the IBC project’s objectives is to attract more cycle tourists to the Slovak side of the Danube. Until 2023, most long-distance cyclists chose the Hungarian route. Today, thanks to the newly paved surface, the Slovak route offers a much more attractive cycling experience.
To support this shift, the Ekopolis Foundation will install information panels with QR codes along the route, directing visitors to web pages featuring stories from the Danube region. These include stories about the Roman bridgehead at Iža, the devastating 1965 flood, and a group of local senior citizens who helped save an important technical heritage site in Žitavská Tôň.
Reliable Data for Better Decisions
To evaluate whether these activities genuinely increase visitor numbers, accurate cycling data is essential.
For this purpose, the Váh–Danube–Ipeľ Regional Association, the investor behind the cycle route, installed two ECO-Counter ZELT bicycle counters at the end of 2023. These devices provide objective, continuous measurements of cycling traffic, enabling both the impact of promotional activities and the overall effectiveness of the new route to be assessed.
The first two years of monitoring already show a clear upward trend in cycling tourism.
At Kravany nad Dunajom, more than 21,000 bicycle passages were recorded during the first nine months of 2024 and 2025 combined. In the direction from Komárno to Štúrovo—the typical direction of long-distance cycle tourists—the number of passages increased from 12,637 to 13,402, representing a 6% increase.
During the main cycling season (May–September), growth was even stronger, rising from 10,455 to 11,664 passages, an increase of 11%.
Similar results were recorded at the monitoring location near Obid, where bicycle traffic increased by 8% over the same period.
These figures clearly indicate that more and more cycle tourists are choosing the Slovak side of the Danube. For local municipalities and businesses, this represents an important opportunity—not only to maintain this positive trend but also to expand services that generate greater economic benefits from cycling tourism.
Invisible Technology Monitoring Cycling Traffic
The ECO-Counter ZELT bicycle counters operate using inductive loop technology embedded beneath the surface of the cycle path. As bicycles pass over the loops, changes in the electromagnetic field are detected, allowing each bicycle to be counted accurately.
The system offers two major advantages. First, it is completely hidden underground, making it virtually invisible and highly resistant to vandalism. Second, it is powered by internal batteries with a lifespan of approximately two years, eliminating the need for any external power supply such as grid electricity, solar panels, or external batteries.
Because the counter is not permanently fixed to the ground, its installation does not require either a building permit or notification of minor construction works.
The system records the direction of travel, collects data in hourly intervals, and automatically uploads the information once a day to the ECO-Visio platform, where it can be analysed and visualised.
Expanding the Monitoring Network
Based on the positive experience with the existing counters, local organisations have expressed interest in expanding the monitoring network.
A third ECO-Counter ZELT is planned for installation in spring 2026 near the Roman military camp at Iža, providing an even more comprehensive picture of how cyclists use this section of the EuroVelo 6 Danube Cycle Route.
The official supplier of ECO-Counter traffic counting systems in Slovakia is Jantárová cesta Ltd.
