October 2012
Rural Tourism School
From 14 to 21 October, 2012 in Yaremche it is conducting the Rural Tourism Schoolin the framework of the project “Harmonization of Tourism Development in Rural Areas of the Carpathian Region”, which is realized by the Association of Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk with the financial support of the Hungary – Slovakia – Romania – Ukraine ENPI Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007–2013.
The School participants are the owners of the private guesthouses, representatives of the tourism associations, tourist information centers of the Ivano-Frankivsk region (Ukraine) and Maramures county (Romania).
The importance of the conducting of the School is the need to increase the level of knowledges and skills of the participants of the tourist market for the improving the level of the quality of tourist services.
The Program of the School provides the familiarizing the participants with:- regulatory and legal bases of the implementing the activities in the field of rural tourism in Ukraine and Romania;
- the concept of the development of rural tourism in Europe;
- Carpathian Rural Development Strategy;
- basics of entrepreneurship and business planning in rural tourism;
- fundamentals of hospitality and quality of the services;
- standardization, certification and categorization of hotel and not-hotel accommodation facilities;
- basic and additional services in rural green tourism;
- creating a positive image of business in rural green tourism;
- formation of a competitive tourism product. Joint Ukrainian-Romanian Tourist Product “Colorful Rural Carpathian”;
- discount loyalty program “Carpathian Tour Pass” and other.
In addition to the theoretical courses, the participants of the School will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the tourist objects of thr Ivano-Frankivsk region during the study tours, to exchange with the information and experience, to share the best practices of the conducting the business, developing of the proposals to the joint Ukrainian-Romanian tourism products.
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 Department of External Economic Relations and Tourism of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration 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.
