News from Baltic Country Holidays

We continue to work on the project "Silver Travellers". The project aims to close an existing gap in the provision of modern technology learning in the rural tourism sector facing new market challenges. On December 18th the project partners met online to discuss the next steps until the end of the project in August 2021.

On December 11, 2020, the winners of the competition "New Tourism Product 2020" in Latvia organized by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) were announced. The first place was awarded to the tourism product nominated by Vidzeme Planning Region – the long-distance hiking route Forest Trail (Baltic Forest Hiking).

On December 22 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan and via Zoom platform a round table was held on the topic “Environmental Certification Procedures and Sustainable Tourism Management Issues – the challenges and the expectations at National level”. The purpose of the round table was to strengthen the dialogue between enterprises and government agencies regarding the development of sustainable tourism in Kazakhstan. Representatives of central and regional government bodies, higher education institutions, associations, hotels and travel companies were invited to the round table.

An increasing number of rural tourism accommodation owners are ready to take all required safety precautions and receive guests who need a place to stay for self-isolation or quarantine. The sites are located in all regions of Latvia, most of all – in the central part of the country. 

We keep an updated list of such accommodations and their online map >>> HERE.

We continue to work on the project “A model for sustainable tourism in Central Asia: Building capacities, creating awareness, introducing technology” (MOST). The project aims at promoting a new and well-structured model for sustainable tourism in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan that can contribute to preserving and strengthening local culture, heritage and traditions, while also protecting the natural environment. The former Soviet Asian States present considerable opportunities to become a major tourist destination in the way of unique cultural, historical, archaeological, and natural attractions. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan have strategically utilized tourism for driving economic growth. However, the sector faces a lot of problems and challenges, such as underdeveloped infrastructure, low standard services to the tourists and high prices. Given that the tourism sector in these countries is still under-developed but with very high potential, the setting of a sustainable tourism model is very crucial.

The project "A model for sustainable tourism in Central Asia: Building capacities, creating awareness, introducing technology" (MOST) team has created an introduction video for this project. It gives an insight of what is planned as well as for whom the project is meant for.

EU-funded SWITCH-Asia Programme Project MOST aims to support tourism MSMEs and associations as well as local and regional authorities in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan towards a new model of sustainable tourism based on the sustainable production and consumption patterns. This will be achieved through the provision of a life cycle and supply chain management approach to sustainability interventions in tourism, covering issues that range from support for regional policies & planning, adoption of standards, introduction of value chain concepts, to the awareness of relevant stakeholders, highlighting in this way the multi-stakeholder nature of tourism sustainability and the great benefits that will arise through the engagement and cooperation of all stakeholders.

The fifth and final meeting took place on May 27, 2020 in Riga, Latvia. Originally this meeting was planned on March 31 also as a final dissemination event – a seminar with ca 100 participants – SMEs. It was planned to invite the target audience – rural tourism and training sectors’ representatives as well as environment protection and sustainable rural development stakeholders. It didn’t happen as planned due to the emergency situation in the world caused by COVID-19 virus, disseminating results on-line. Instead the meeting took place in LCTA office participating only project partners. They discussed and evaluated all tangible project outcomes (printable handbook versions, an on-line training tools and on-line check lists in all three partner languages). They discussed activities which have been done in order to disseminate project results. The budget and ideas for the next project were discussed as well.

As summer approaches and thoughts linger on Latvia's beautiful nature, delicious food and its people, but it is not yet allowed to leave our homes, we invite you to get acquainted digitally with the places and opportunities offered by "Flavours of Livonia", with hope that soon they can be visited for real!

"Flavours of Livonia" - it's not just dining in a pub! It is an opportunity to meet our own hosts - food producers and providers, who are amazingly versatile, able to produce their own products, receive tourists, feed and entertain them, all in accordance with local food growing and cooking traditions. Most of the Livonian-era food traditions have survived to the present day, alternating with traditional Latvian cuisine, and these flavors can be tasted thanks to entrepreneurs who respect local food and traditions, using locally grown food ingredients, take care of the environment around the and are proudu of their delicious food!

The brochure introduces the long-distance hiking route FOREST TRAIL, which passes ~ 1060 km through the forests of Latvia and Estonia, from Riga to Tallinn. In Latvia, FOREST TRAIL runs through the Gauja National Park, the Northern Gauja Forestlands and Veclaicene. In Estonia, FOREST TRAIL runs through the Haanja uplands, the Setomaa un Peipsimaa regions and further along the coast of Northern Estonia - to Tallinn. The route along the Estonian part includes the Lahemaa National Park and the coast of Northern Estonia, which is the land of the most impressive rocks, waterfalls and clints in the Baltic States. You will recognize FOREST TRAIL as Mežtaka in Latvia and as Metsa Matkarada in Estonia.
The FOREST TRAIL includes all the typical forest types and wildlife elements of the Baltic States - plants, beasts, fungi, etc.
The FOREST TRAIL is divided into 50 one or two-day hiking sections, each of which is ~ 20 km long. You can choose any section of the hike. The brochure includes a map of the hiking route.

Available languages: Latvian, English, Estonian, Russian, German

>>> Brochure (PDF)

We have started a new project "A model for sustainable tourism in Central Asia: Building capacities, creating awareness, introducing technology" (MOST).

The project aims:

• to promote a new and well-structured model for sustainable tourism in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan that can contribute to preserving and strengthening local culture, heritage and traditions, while also protecting the natural environment;
• to support tourism companies mainly in Uzbekistan, but also in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan to adopt (SCP) practices by providing appropriate knowledge and ICT tools;
• to support regional and local authorities to plan and implement policies that assist the development of sustainable tourism;
• to raise awareness regarding sustainable tourism and consumer awareness about sustainable consumption;
• to strengthen the dialogue between authorities, SMEs and end users as concerns SCP.