July 2011
Partners meeting of the project “Harmonization of Tourism Development in Rural Areas of the Carpathian Region”
The partners meeting of the project “Harmonization of Tourism Development in Rural Areas of the Carpathian Region” was taken place on the 21 July, 2011 in Baia Mare (Romania), which is realized by the Association of Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk in the partnership with the Main Department for Tourism, European Integration, External Relations and Investments of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration of Ukraine and Development Centre for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Maramures (Romania) with the support of the Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine ENPI Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013. At the partners meeting was discussed the realization of the project in 2011, its main tasks and activities, the ways of following realization of the project.
At the meeting Mariya Kovaliv - vice-chairman of the Board of the Association of Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk introduced the realization of activities of the project “Harmonization of Tourism Development in Rural Areas of the Carpathian Region”, namely the creation and activity of expert groups of the project, conducting the analytical research of learning the state and the trends of tourism development in the rural communities of the Region; conducting the public opinion survey of tourism development in the rural areas of the Region (to survey the owners of guesthouses and tourists about the condition and quality of tourist services in rural areas of Ivano-Frankivsk Region and the ways of improving them); conducting the marketing audit of tourism services in the rural area of the Region and the Carpathian Rural Development Strategy. Nataliya Gasyuk - Deputy head of the Main Department for Tourism, European Integration, External Relations and Investments of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration introduced their proposals to conduct the analytical research and the public opinion survey, Radu Big – Executive manager of the Development Centre for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Maramures, Project coordinator (Romania) introduced the realization of the project in Romania and introduced their proposals to development the Carpathian Rural Development Strategy.
About the project
The project “Harmonization of Tourism Development in Rural Areas of the Carpathian Region” is realized by the Association of Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk in the partnership with the Main Department for Tourism, European Integration, External Relations and Investments of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration of Ukraine and Development Centre for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Maramures (Romania) in the framework of the the Hungary-Slovakia-Romania-Ukraine ENPI Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013.
Goal of the project: support to socio-economic development of rural communities of Carpathian Euroregion based on implementation of effective and efficient local policies and proactive tourism industry development and promotion mechanisms within border regions of Romania and Ukraine.
Locations of the Action: Ukraine: Ivano-Frankivska oblast; Romania: Maramures judet.
Project target groups: Regions’ rural communities; rural tourist services providers; tourist information centers; entrepreneurs and industry employees; government and local self-government institutions; relevant civil society institutions; potential tourists.
Main project activities:
1. Introduction of a joint tourism policy in accordance with EU practices through the development of the Carpathian Rural Development Strategy and an effective cross-border tourism services marketing system;
2. Facilitating the preservation of natural and cultural environment of the Carpathian Euroregion through the establishment of a joint tourism destination “Colorful Rural Carpathia“;
3. Improvement of the Rural Carpathia’s competitiveness in Europe through the implementation of the Carpathian Tour Pass;
4. Improvement of the skills and knowledge level of tourism industry professionals through the organization of the Summer school;
5. Building joint information and marketing space and a more positive image of the Carpathian Euroregion in the regional and international markets.
Estimated results:
Quantitative: 1 Steering Committee; 4 meeting of Steering Committee; 2 conferences (80 participants); 2 expert groups; 5 expert groups meetings; 4 round table sessions (80 participants); 4 focus groups (80 participants); 1 analytical research, 1 public opinion survey (300 rural guesthouses; 2000 tourists), 1 marketing audit; 1 database of network participants; 1 Carpathian Rural Development Strategy; 1 pilot tourist product „Colorful Rural Carpathia”; 1 Carpathian Culture & Arts Events Calendar (11000); 1 Rules of tourist behavior in the Carpathians (30000 copies); Carpathian Tour Pass (8000); 1 Three-lingual tourist brochure about the region (10000 copies); 1 Three-lingual catalogues of Carpathian Tour Pass members (8000 copies); 1 Three-lingual Rural Carpathia tourist map (10000); 1 Three-lingual brochure about Carpathian Tour Pass (10000); 1 Carpathian Tourism Development Office; 8 training modules; Summer School (40 participants, 8 days); informational stands for network partners (20); 1 web-portal.
Qualitative: A system of developing and promoting tourism services for Ukrainian and Romanian border regions; joint Ukrainian-Romanian tourist destination «Colorful Rural Carpathia»; competitiveness of the Carpathian Euroregion and its image in the European markets improved; improved self-employment indicators in the tourism sector; improved tourism sector information space within the Carpathian Euroregion.
