Ecoregion Perspective

8/7/2019 Ecoregion Perspective

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PERSPECTIVES

Jan 2010 1Baltic 21 Series No. 1/2010


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PERSPECTIVESSustainable Tourism as a Part of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

Imprint

sustainable projects

Bundesallee 130

12161 Berlin

Tel +49 (30) 832 1417 40

Fax +49 (30) 832 1417 50

[email protected]

www.sustainable-projects.eu

ThematicPeriodical

EcoRegion Perspectives

First Issue: Sustainable Tourism asa Part

of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

Publisher

Baltic 21

Editorial team

s.Pro

Responsible part ner

Baltic 21 Tourism Sector Lead Party Germany

University of Greifswald, Institute of Geography

Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Steingrube, Dipl.oec. Betina Meliss

Incentive

- Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern took the responsibility for the task Tourism

under the EU Strategy for the BSR(Action Plan, item 12)

- Baltic 21 Tourism Sector Lead Party - University of Greif swald /

Institute of Geography was named asresponsible LEAD for the

flagship project Develop strategiesfor a sustainable tourism

Jan 2010

Disclaimer

Thisperiodical hasbeen produced with the assistance of the European Union.

The content of thispublication is the sole responsibility of the authors and can in

no way be taken to reflect the viewsof the European Union.

Layout & design by:

betzemeier usp design, www.betzemeier.com

Cover photo:

Shifting sand dunes, Slowinski National Park in Poland, Freddie Bijkerk

ISSN 1029-7790

Introduction

Dear Reader,

EcoRegion is an important project that supports the realisation of sustaina-

ble development app roaches in the whole Baltic Sea Region and contr ibut es

to making it a sustainable and prosperous place.

In recent years, progr ess has been made to advance sustainable developmen t

in t he Baltic Sea Region. These effort s are now support ed by t he EcoRegion

project, wh ich seeks to tu rn thi s area into th e world s fir st EcoRegion, wher e

economical growth goes hand in hand with environmental integrity and

social justice.

The project is based on the unique multi-stakeholder network of Baltic 21,

which was created for t he realisation of t he Agenda 21 for th e Baltic Sea

Region. By way of eight sectoral plat form s, Baltic 21 members carry out joint

actions and cross-sectoral activities to pursue Sustainable Development in

the Baltic Sea Region. Furthermore the project is aligned with the Aalborg

Commitments, through w hich regional governments voluntarily commit to

defi ning clear target s and implement ing concrete actions for Sustainable

Development.

Through the EcoRegion project, ten model regions prepare strategic sustain-

ability plans and implement a selected set of concrete measures designed to

reach these Sustainable Development targets. This process is supported by

a capacity building programme on Integrated Sustainability Management

Systems. Numerous workshops foster the inter-regional, cross-sectoral and

sectoral-r egional dialog ue and understanding on Sustainable Development

wit hin th e Baltic Sea Region. In additi on, public materials, including a good

practices database, provide infor mation o n how t o foster Sustainable Devel-

opment on a regional level.

One of the publications produced by the project is the series EcoRegion

Perspectives. It presents policies, projects and practices for the sustainable

development of t he Baltic Sea Region f rom vario us perspectives such as tour-

ism, spatial planning and climate change.

We hope this periodical will give readers an insight into the diversity and

potential of sustainable development, and trust that you will find it both

interesting and informative.

Drte Ratzmann,

Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation

and Nuclear Safety

EcoRegion Project Lead Partner


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PERSPECTIVES Sustainable Tourism as a Part of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

5


EU Policy Level

Towards sustainable and competitive European tourism

BSR Policy Level

Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns role in the Baltic Sea Region Strategy

Sustainable Baltic Sea Region through tourism actions

Tourism in rural areas around the Baltic Sea

International Events

European Tourism Day and Forum, Brussels, 8-9 October 2009

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern forms initiative for more cooperation in the

Baltic Sea Region

2nd Baltic Sea Tourism Forum, Vilnius / Lithuania, 24-25 September 2009

BTC conference on recent developments in Baltic Sea tourism successfully

organised in Tartu/ Estonia, 7-8 October 2009

BSR Strategy: Three Tourism Flagship Projects

Flagship Project 1: Attract tourists to rural areas especially the coastal ones

Flagship project 2: Promote t he cultural heritage and the unique landscapes

Flagship project 3: Develop strategies for a sustainable t ourism

Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013: Ongoing Tourism Projects

AGORA 2.0 Heritage Tourism for Increased Baltic Sea Region

Identity

Parks & Benefits Generating Socio-Economic Effects by a

Sustainable Management of Protected Areas

Baltic Green Belt Integrating natural and cultural heritage

based tourism with nat ure conservation

Tourism Related Activities on Regional / Local Level

Future prospects: Sustainable tourism in the Baltic Sea Region

The Baltic University Programme Education for sustainable tourism

development

State analysis of opportunities for sustainable w ater tourism at southern

Lake Pijnne, Finland

Local tourism att ractors and authentic experiences

Tallinn (and Turku) Capital of Culture 201 1

Kaunas City of young people

Set course for Pomorskie

Szymbark tourist at tractions, Pomorskie Region, Poland

Kaliningrad Region as prospective centre for development of ecotourism

in the South-East Baltic

Gusev M unicipality: Towards sustainable tourism development

Content

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Introduction

Dear Reader,

Thinking only 20 years back it was anything but sure that stakeholders

from the ent ire Baltic Sea Region w ere in discussions about sustainable t our-

ism development, about cooperation and coordination of activities. The iron

curtain - dividing Europe and its regions in opposite political systems made

common activities nearly impossible. However, it was not only the political

situation but also a lack of awareness and understanding which prevented

common efforts.

The more we are glad t hat t he situation h as changed and some progr ess was

made. During the past 2-3 years many stakeholders got actively involved in

the pr ocess of developing t he EU Strat egy for the Baltic Sea Region th e fir st

European region with an own strategy, including also an Action Plan with

concrete responsibilities, measures, actions and fl agship proj ects.

The task tourism is integrated in item 12 of that Action Plan: To maintain

and reinforce attractiveness of the Baltic Sea. As one of the most important

tourism destinations with still increasing numbers of tourists the German

Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern took the responsibility to act as a coordina-

tor. For the coming years an ambitious programme was made to bring the

BSR strat egy and its implementat ion to life and t o give positive impul ses.

Therefore t he Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013 is an excellent i nstru-

ment to support common projects to implement the objectives for territorial

cooperation.

More than other economic sectors, tourism has the particular potential to

be a connecting link between the different countries around the Baltic Sea,

not only on a t heoretical level but enabling and fostering direct, personal

contacts between inhabitants.

For t he coming years we will continue our effor ts to overcome pro vincial-

ism , to strengthen the cooperation of stakeholders, to built up a common

identi ty and in f act - to develop t he Baltic Sea Region as one region.

Prof. Wilhelm Steingrube,

University of Greifswald

Baltic 21 Tourism Sector and Member of the Expert Group on Sustainable

Development of t he Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS)


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Sustainable Tourism as a Part of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

7


world. In general, Europe is already

a tourist destination characterised

by high quality and sustainability.

In order to become more competi-

tive, all stakeholders of the tourism

industry should work to reinforce

this image. Attracting more tour-

ists to Europe and convincing our

EU tourists to profit from the rich-

ness of our destinations will favour

the creation of growth and jobs.

Employment growth in the tourism

sector h as been significantl y higherthan in the rest of the economy in

recent years, making the sector a

significant contributor to t he Lis-

bon objective to create more and

better jobs. Tourism as a cross-cut-

ting sector, involves a big diversity

of services and professions, linked

to many other economic activities.

It impacts on sectors such as trans-

port, construction, retail and on t he

numerous sectors that produce holi-

day products or provide leisure and

business travel-related services. Each

sector evident ly has its own specifici-

ties but each is an integral part of a

whole system and has an impact on

the other. That is why, it is no longer

possible to consider tourism in isola-

tion; a global approach is necessary

in order to enhance sustainabilityand competitiveness of European

tourism in the future.

www.ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism

EU Policy Level

Developing European tourism in a

sustainable manner is a challenge

but also the strength of our conti-

nent. The principles of sustainable

development must be taken as the

basis for further developing and

strengthening of tourism within the

European Union. Sustainable devel-

opment means that ecological, eco-

nomic and socio-cultural welfare go

hand in hand. Given the importance

of human capital and the strong de-

pendency of tourism on natural and

cultural resources, further develop-

ment of the industry in a sustainable

way is also a key to its competitive-

ness. This has been underlined in

the European Commission Commu-

nication (2007) Agenda fo r a sus-

tainable and competitive European

tourism. The objective of delivering

economic prosperity, social equity

and cohesion and environmental

and cultural protection should guide

private and public European tourism

stakeholders in their policies and ac-

tions and in supporting tourism as a

tool for sustainable development of

the host countries.

Tourism plays an important role in

the development of t he vast majori-

ty of European regions and the need

to impro ve the attractiveness of th e

regions acts as an incentive to an

increasing number of destinations

and stakeholders to turn towardsmore sustainable and environmen-

tally friendly practices and policies.

The growth of an area leads to more

jobs and helps raise the quality of

life in a reg ion. The local people also

take advantage of visitors eating at

their restaurants, shopping at their

Towards sustainable and competit iveEuropean tourism

EU Policy Level

Francesco Ianniello

Head of Tourism Unit,

Directorate General for

Enterprise and Industry,

European Commission

markets and staying at their hotels.

It is essential that proper investment

in tourism growt h has the peoples

best interests in mind and a constant

respect for natural and cultural her-

itage.

The European Commission is con-

tinuously working to promote the

value and diversity of European

tourism through its actions and poli-

cies (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/

sectors/tourism/index_en.htm). We

are seeking to encourage different

stakeholders to work together and

to share the best practices in tour-

ism with the aim of promoting its

competitiveness and sustainability.

The EDEN ( European Destinations

of Excellence www.edenineur ope.

eu) preparatory action is only one

of very successful examples of the

Commissions active participation

in promoting sustainable tourism

development models across the Eu-

ropean Union. Since this year, the

European Commission is also high-

lighting the importance of the Iron

Curtain Trail a cross-border cy-

cling route, which will run from the

Barents Sea in the no rth t o the Black

Sea in the south along the former

Iron Curtain. I am confident, that

this project will fi nd and create syn-

ergies with the Baltic Sea Strat egy in

the near future.

A more competitive tourism indus-

try and sustainable destinations will

therefore contribute to t he satisfac-

tion of t ourists and the confirmation

of th e position of Europe as the most

visited tourist destination in the

European Union


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BSR Policy Level

I am convinced that the success of

the strategy relies on stakeholder

and actor participation from the

various levels particularly in fi elds

where the European Union has no,

or only limited, competencies. Meck-

lenburg-Vorpommern will try to

contribute its part to make this suc-

cess happen.

www.baltic-sea-strategy-tourism.eu

Schwerin Castle, seat of the Land parliament Hoff mann / Tourist Board Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as Ger-

man Bundesland, borders directly

on the Baltic Sea. It has intense his-

torical, economic and cultural ties

to t his area. Since the early nin eties,

the Land has actively and continu-

ously engaged itself in partnerships

and Baltic Sea organization s. Meck-

lenburg-Vorpommern has welcomed

and taken part in the various con-

cepts introduced by the European

Union for the advancement of the

area in general or maritime issues

in particular, such as the Northern

Dimension and the EU Integrated

Maritime Policy.

Since the European Council re-

quested the European Commission

to present a Strat egy for th e Baltic

Sea Region, M ecklenburg-Vorpo m-

mern has taken a strong interest in

the development of this new inte-

grated macro-regional approach. To

define it s position, it conducted a

number of workshops with the rel-

evant stakeholders in Mecklenburg-

Vorpommern and contributed to the

consultation process initiated by the

European Commission.

On February 5 and 6, 2009, the

Lands Hanseatic City of Rostock w as

the venue for th e 2nd Stakehol der

Conference on the EU-Strat egy for

the Baltic Sea Region, organized to-

gether with the European Commis-

sion.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns role in theBaltic Sea Region Strategy

BSR Policy Level

Reinhard Meyer

Head of the State

Chancellery of the Land

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

The sub-national level in the Baltic

Sea Region has often - and in my

opinion rightly - stressed its vital

role in the practical cooperation in

this area. It has also regularly just

as rightly - voiced its position in re-

gard to strategies and policies refer-

ring to the Baltic Sea Region. Quite

a number of these positions have

now found their way into the Ac-

tion Plan. I believe this also entails a

certain responsibility when it comes

to the implementation of the Action

Plan. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as

one of the leading tourism destina-

tions in Germany, will act as prior-

ity area coordinator (PAC) for this

field , a functi on otherw ise almost

exclusively entrusted to the Member

State level.

As PAC, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

will facilitate two cooperative ac-

tions, aiming to Highlight and

optimize the sustainable tourism po-

tential and Network and cluster

stakeholders of the tourism indus-

try and t ourism education bodies.

In addition three flagship projects

will be implemented for wh ich lead

partners have already been won.

They aim to Attract tourists to rural

areas especially to the coastal on es

(Regional Council of Southwest Fin-

land, assisted by Turku Touring),

Promote the cultural heritage andthe uniq ue landscapes (Marshals

Offi ce Pomorskie Region) and to

Develop strat egies for a sustainable

and environmentally friendly tour-

ism (Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University

Greifswald, Institute of Geography

and Geology, Mecklenburg-Vorpom-

mern).

Kick-off meeting f or the Priority Area Tourism

State Chancellery Mecklenburg-Vorpommern


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profit able outcomes while avoid-

ing ecosystem damage. The project

developed Sustainability Check for

tourism projects and a t oolbox with

appropriate instruments. The data-

base YepaT, which was developed

within the project, provides infor-

mation about more than 260 tour-

ism projects in the Balti c Sea Region.

Furthermore, the Baltic 21 Tourism

Sector and members of the AGORA

network provided input to the pub-

lic consultations on the EU Agenda

for Sustainable and Competitive Eu-

ropean Tourism. A follow-up project,

AGORA 2.0, which is also a Baltic 21

Lighthouse project and a Flagship

project in t he EU Strat egy for th e

Baltic Sea Region, aims at develop-

ing heritage to urism, including both

cultural and natural tourism, based

on the principles of sustainability,

and thereby increase the common

Baltic Sea Region identity. Moreo-

ver, the Baltic 21 Tourism Sector is

a partner in the EcoRegion project,

in w hich the p erspectives of t he Sec-

tor are demonstrated through good

practices and strategic actions for

the future w ork of Baltic 21.

As of January 1st, 2010, Baltic 21

will become the CBSS Expert Group

on Sustainable Development Bal-

tic 21. The biggest change for Baltic

21 will be a transition fr om Sectorplatforms to a focus on a handful of

key strategic areas of cooperation.

These areas include climate change,

sustainable urban and rural develop-

ment, sustainable consumption and

production, and innovation and edu-

cation for sustainable development.

Sustainable tou rism is relevant to all

these areas and concrete joint ac-

tions in this regard will be an impor-

tant element of the Baltic 21 Strat-

egy 2010. We encourage all tourism

partners in the Baltic Sea Region to

contribute to the development of

this Strategy.

Baltic 21, as an integrated part of

CBSS, will b e well pl aced to f ur-

ther promote sustainable tourism

at a high political level. During the

Lithuanian CBSS Presidency (2009-

2010) particular emphasis will be

put on fostering cross-border coop-

eration on sharing best practice and

preservation of common cultural her-

itage. In light of this, the Lithuanian

CBSS Presidency convened the 2nd

Baltic Sea Tourism Forum on 24-25

September 2009 in Vilnius. The 2nd

Baltic Sea Tourism Forum adopted

a Declaration (http://www.tourism.

lt/upload/Vilnius_Declaration.pdf),

which suggested intensified collabo-

ration on common market research,

development of new international

markets, infr astructure, Baltic Sea

Region products and services, pro-

motional activities and an internet

platform.

We look forward to working with

sustainable tourism partners to turn

the principles of sustainable de-velopment into practice and feed

back int o policy development w ithin

CBSS, the EU and beyond, and there-

by contribute to prosperous econo-

mies, healthy societies and dynamic

ecosystem s in the Balt ic Sea Region.

www.baltic21.org

11

Baltic Sea, aerial photo CBSSSecretari at

BSR Policy Level

For more than ten years, our part

of t he worl d, the Baltic Sea Region,

has had a clear vision of turning the

principles of sustainable develop-

ment into practice. For a decade, we

have had the strongest commitment

by the Heads of Government in all

countri es around the Baltic Sea to

tackle environmental degradation

and socio-economic inequaliti es, and

foster sustainable solution s and best

practices. For more than ten years,

Baltic 21 has contributed to advanc-

ing sustainable development in the

region by coordinating goals and

activities, and by serving as a forum

for cooperation across borders and

between stakeholders.

Sustainable tourism has, since the

set up of Baltic 21, been an impor-

tant sectoral platform to sustain a

sound environment, safeguard the

recreational quality of natural and

Sustainable Baltic Sea Region throughtourism actions

BSR Policy Level

Mia Crawford

Senior Adviser on

Sustain able Development -

Baltic 21,

Secretariat of Council of

Balt ic Sea Stat es (CBSS)

man-made landscape, and integrate

natural, cultural and human envi-

ronments. Furthermore, the Baltic

21 Tourism Sector has promo ted t he

competit ive quality and effi ciency of

the tourism business, as well as the

creation of satisfactory social con-

ditions for tourists and local com-

munities. An Action Programme for

Sustainable Tourism was adopted in

1998. This Action Programme empha-

sised awareness building, t ransfer of

know-how and education, tourism

industry, and services and product

development and marketing.

For the last fi ve years, Baltic 21

Tourism Sector has designed, im-

plemented and successfully d issemi-

nated the activities and outcomes

of the Baltic 21 Lighthouse project

AGORA (2005-2007). The project has

demonstrated that sustainable rural

tourism can produce economically

Domicil e of the CBSSSecretariat CBSSSecretariat


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BSR Policy Level

Rural tourism was traditio nally based

on domestic demand. As a result,

each of the countries around the

Baltic Sea has defined it s own con-

cept and special touch f or rural

tourism. Among the countries with

longer t raditi on, Sweden and Po-

land focus on farm t ourism, Norway

combines tourism services with tr adi-

tional f ood, while Finland stands for

the lo g cabins. The new EU member

countries have made great efforts

to develop new offers, with a clearmarket-driven understanding, with

excellent examples in Estonia, Latvia,

and Lithuania. All of them have the

concept of sustainable tourism de-

velopment at heart: they do not only

offer accommodation, but combine

it with all other assets of interest

for a visitor in t heir region. Through

this integrated approach, traditional

Rural tourism is the wider under-

standing of tourism services in rural

areas, provided by local people with

a high level of integration in the

surrounding community. The client

may expect a personal welcome by a

host family, the experience of a real

countryside and rural culture, tasty

home-made food with local prod-

ucts, and comfortable but not neces-

sarily luxury accommodations.

Some years back, rural t ourism was

clearly focussed on l ocal or dom estic

demand for budget short breaks or

family holi days, but t his situat ion has

changed considerably. New trends

and groups of clients motivated by

specific assets such as natur e, re-

laxation, good food, open-air activi-ties, or the experience of real local

culture have grown in importance.

International demand by experi-

enced tourists with a medium-high

socio-cultural level is increasing.

This opens excellent perspectives for

Tourism in rural areas around the Baltic Sea

BSR Policy Level

Klaus Ehrlich

European Federation of

Farm and Village Tourism

(EuroGites)

President

the future, as new and interesting

tourism products can be developed

based on t he specific int rinsic assets

of each region and village.

The great advantage of our rural

tourism is the personal contact be-

tween the client and t he host, who

knows all about the characteristics

and possibilities for leisure in the re-

gion. The most frequent demand is

for light sports (hiking, biking, rid-

ing) or simply relaxing in the gar-

den, at a lake, or on the terrace of

a local bar. The visitor can also learn

about local recipes and original food

products, or may experience tra-

ditional celebrations or festivities.

Also nature, health, and wellness

are increasingly important. This listis common all over Europe, but it is

precisely the variety that the coun-

tries around the Baltic Sea can offer

that makes them so attractive for ru-

ral tou rism.

crafts, gastronomy, cultural herit-

age, nature parks, and any kind of

open-air activities all benefi t equally

from rural t ourism.

Visitors should check if the accom-

modation is registered with any of

the member organisations of EuroG-

ites European Federation of Farm

and Village Tourism www.eurogites.

org. Througho ut Europe, they ensure

that common minimum standards

regarding equipment and personalattention are observed. These are

based on general recommendations

for Europe-wide minimum standards

in rural tourism accommodation,

recently revised in November 2009.

Individual owners of rural accommo-

dations can benefit f rom this promo-

tion by becoming members of t heir

regional or national association.

www.eurogites.orgUsing the bikesto get around... Lauku Celotajs, Latvia

Lithuanian farm house, Zemaitija National Park Betina Meliss


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As far as the European Tourism Fo-

rum is concerned, the chosen theme

was EU Tourism and t he Economic

Downturn: New Opportunities for a

Sustainable and Prosperous Future?

The panel presentations and discus-

sions showed the strong interest of

stakeholders in the four proposed

themes: Consumer Behaviour vis--

vis Sustainabilit y and t he Economic

Downturn , Employer-Employee

Relations in Tourism , The Regu-

lator y Framewor k in Tourism , and 2020 Perspective: Promotin g Com-

petitive and Sustainable European

Tourism . Mr. Gnter Verheug ens

(Vice-President of the European

Commission) pro-active interven-

tion outlined well the political and

practical initiatives undertaken by

the European Commission in recent

years under his stewardship and

highlighted the improved legal and

operational framework that the fu-

ture Lisbon Treaty will provide to the

EU Tourism pub lic and privat e stake-

holders.

www.ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism

The European Tourism Day and the

European Tourism Forum organised

in Brussels by the Dir ectorate Gener-

al for Enterprise and Industry of the

European Commission on October

8th and 9t h, 2009, respectively, were

very successful experiences. The

presence of around 450 participants

is a testament to the great interest

that t he theme of sustainable tour-

ism evokes with the stakeholders

and th e European publ ic. Every year

the European Commission organises

the European Tourism Forum, u sual-

ly in collaboration with the M ember

State hol ding t he Presidency of the

European Union, in order to discuss

further actions for tourism devel-

opment at the European level and

to give more visibility to this veryimportant sector of the European

economy.

in 2009, the European Tourism Day

was devoted to discussing the role

of networking in developing Euro-

pean sustainable tourism. The Com-

mission regu larly seeks to encour age

different stakeholders to work to-

gether and share best practices and

experiences, as well as to strengt hen

the development of the networks

already working in the fi eld of sus-

tainable tourism in Europe. Europe-

an Tourism events are an excellent

opportunity to present to a largepublic the different networks and

organisations and their role in de-

European Tourism Day and Forum,Brussels, 8-9 October 2009


Francesco Ianniello

Head of Tourism Unit,

Directorate General for

Enterprise and Industry,

European Commission

veloping European sustainable tour-

ism, as well as to look for possible

synergies and means of cooperation

among them. In addition to discuss-

ing tr aditio nal themes such as indica-

tors for sustainable tourism, the role

of SMEs, and knowledge networks

in the tourism sector, a fresh new el-

ement was introduced through the

presentation of interesting t hematic

networks and the role that they cur-

rently play and could play in the fu-

ture enhancement of sustainability

in tour ism development . The Cul-

tural Itineraries of t he Council of

Europe, the network Restaurants

du terroir , as well as the tourism

perspective within t he Baltic Sea

Strat egy w ere discussed during t his

panel. Regarding thi s latter case, themain challenges for tourism in this

macro-region were presented by a

representative of Mecklenburg-Vor-

pommern (Germany), the coordina-

tor of the priority area on tourism.

Attracting tourists to rural areas,

facilitating environmentally sustain-

able cruises in the Baltic Sea, pro-

moting cultural heritage and unique

landscapes, and developing strate-

gies for sustainable and envir onmen-

tally friendly tourism are only some

of t he identified challenges that can

be better addressed through coor-

dination and joint action by the re-

gions involved, which the EuropeanUnion could f acilitate.

European Union


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a trade mark that is competitively

viable and can be positioned on

level with the Mediterranean. It will

complement the existing marketing

strategies of the various countries

and regions meaningfully.

As a result o f t he Vilnius conference,

its participants adopted a declara-

tion which is to pave the way to-

wards more touristic cooperation

and to determine individual fields

of action. Among others, ideas and

initiatives were discussed regarding

a common market research concept,

possibilities of mutual presentation

at fairs, a network of offers of cy-

cling tourism and youth travel, and

a common internet platform. The

participants agreed on the estab-lishment of a mutual web page, on

frequent meetings to fin d a common

ground f or market research, and on

holding a press conference at the

worlds biggest travel fair, ITB in

Berlin in 2010. In a further process,

other different possibilities for fair

presentations, public relatio ns activi-

ties, cross border connection of of-

fers, especially regardin g cycling and

youth travel, and a common travel

guide will be debated.

The participating organizations in

the 2nd Baltic Sea Tourism Forum

took note of the proposal of the Eu-

ropean Commission f or t he EU Strat -

egy for the Balti c Sea Region in June

2009. They welcome the various ac-

tivities proposed therein, particular-

ly those directed at maintaining and

reinforcing the attractiveness of t his

region in the field of tourism. The

collaboration between the partici-

pants and the strategy co-ordinatorfor the tourism field is understood

as a contribution to t he goals of the

Baltic Sea Str ateg y.

www.auf-nach-mv.de

Participants of the 2nd Baltic Sea

Tourism Forum want to strengthen

trade mark Baltic Sea

Tourism in the Baltic Sea Region has

developed more dynamically than

tourism in the Mediterranean Re-

gion. Still, in the latter, 500 million

overnight stays are generated per

year, an amount four times as high as

in the Baltic Sea Region (Source: Eu-

rostat). According to scientists, tour-

ism in th is area can evolve only as a

result of appropriately coordinated

marketing. Prof. Edgar Kreilkamp,

tourism expert at the University of

Lneburg, states that the image of

the individual tourism destinations

in the Baltic Sea Region is diverse,

even though there are many similar-ities regarding touristic themes.

In order to act as a strong network

in th e long r un, the 1st Baltic Sea

Tourism Summit was organised as a

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern forms initiativefor more cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region


Bernd Fischer

Tourist Board

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,

Managing Director

forum for mutual exchange in the

Hanseatic City of Rostock on 2 Octo-

ber 2008. Fourty representatives of

countries and regions bordering the

Baltic Sea took the opportunity t o

attend the meeting in which Meck-

lenburg-Vorpommern and the Baltic

Sea bordering states of Hamburg

and Schleswig-Holstein proposed

different approaches for joint ac-

tions. The process of convergence

among the tourism regions around

the Baltic Sea was continued last

August during a workshop on the

island of Usedom.

The 2nd Baltic Sea Tourism Forum in

Vilnius on th e 24 and 25 of Septem-

ber 2009 then aimed at t he establish-

ment of a durable communicationprocess. There is large touristic and

thus economic potential in the area,

which can be exploited by a unifi ed

appearance. A strong cooperating

community will be able to establish

Balt ic Sea Coast in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern F. Neumann / Tour ist Board Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Fish ing boatsin a harbour, Ba lt ic Sea coast l ine in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Messerschmidt / Tourist Board M ecklenburg-Vorpommern


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19



We should actively work together,

create a new strategy and make our

region very attractive, competitive

and prosperous. We should also pay

more attention to the exclusive and

specifi c count ryside tour ism, cul-

tural tourism, active and business

tourism, resorts, SPAs to reduce

seasonal prevalence.

We believe that tourism develop-

ment has a positive force and our co-

operation will give fruit ful results in

the realisation of the goals of the EU

Strat egy for the Baltic Sea Region.

www.ukmin.lt/en

The 2nd Baltic Sea Tourism Forum

held in Vilnius, 24-25 September

2009 was a great success. 115 par-

ticipants from 12 countries arrived

to Lithuania, celebrating the millen-

nium of its name first appearing in

historical sources, and to Vilnius, the

European Capital of Culture 2009.

It was a great challenge for Lithua-

nia to become a successor i n th is new

tradit ion of the Baltic Sea Tourism

Forum. We took the relay from the

creators of the idea Germany, and

in particular Mecklenburg-Vorpom-

mern and we are now ready to pass

this on to the Kaliningrad Region of

the Russian Federation, to keep this

event as a tradition and to strength-

en the co-operation between theBaltic Sea Region Countries.

2nd Baltic Sea Tourism Forum,Vilnius / Lithuania, 24-25 September 2009


Lidija Bajaruniene

Head of Tourism Policy

Division

Ministry of Economy of the

Republic of Lith uania

The Baltic Sea Region is among the

most dynamic developing regions

in Europe and the field of tourism

should be particularly strong. Tour-

ism is an important part of the world

economy and many countr ies are de-

pendent on it. But this is a positive

dependence, since tourism is an eco-

nomic activity wit h high value added

poten tial. Of course, it is necessary

to look at the economic changes

that take place and have taken place

alongside tourism development in

Europe and all over the world, as

well as to assess the consequences to

the tourism sector from all angles.

Presentation of Vilnius European capital of cult ure at the Royal Palace Lidija Bajaruniene

Participants of t he 2nd Baltic Sea Tourism Forum, Headsof delegations Lidija Bajaruniene


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The secretary general of the Euro-

pean Spa Association, Joachim Lie-

ber spoke to the gathering about

new trends in the spa and wellness

industry.

Always interesting are developments

in t he airli ne business. This time spe-

cial attention was given to regional

airlines in the Baltic states Estoni-

an Air and Air Baltic. Rauno Parras,

acting commercial vice president at

Estoni an Air, and Gregory Pomerant -

sev, sales vice pr esident f or airBaltic,

were on the panel in an engaging

session.

After lunch, a third panel discussion

featured the topic of rural tour-

ism, as Raili Mengel-Sunt of the Es-

tonian Rural Tourism Association,

Juha-Pekka Olkkola of the Finnish

countryside tourism company Lo-

marengas, and Torbjom Fredman of

Novasol discussed current and fu ture

developments.

The final p anel discussion looked at

railways and tourism, as Lars Berg

Schovsbo of Danish Railway, Vidas

Zvinys of Lithuania Railways, and

Mehis Kivilo of the Estonian travel

agency Reisiekspert talked about

the potential for future synthesis

between travel agencies and rail

travel.

To round off a fascinating day, Jens

Bernitzky from the golf marketing

agency Golf Tourism Development &

Services assessed th e imp act and p o-

tential of golf t ourism.

Presentations about newly adopted

EU projects BaltMetPromo and

Agora 2.0 completed the proceed-

ings.

www.balticsea.com

Since 1983 the BTC organises tour-

ism conferences about recent tour-

ism developments in the Balti c Sea

Region. This years conference tookplace for the fi rst time in BTC history

in Tartu member city of the BTC

since 1994- Estonias second largest

city and the main educational centre,

with its well-known u niversity. The

decision t o org anise the BTC confer-

ence in Tartu this year was a logical

one since Tartu has had a fabulous

development as a tourism destina-

tion in recent years. New hotels and

tourism attractions have been built

or renewed, the city is well connect-

ed to the outer world by bus, rail-

way, and last but not least, by newly

opened air connections to Riga and

Stockhol m. The BTC also contrib utedto this development by including

Tartu into BTC-organised press trips

from Japan, China, Korea and India.

BTCconference on recent developmentsin Baltic Sea tourism successfully organisedin Tartu/Estonia, 7-8 October 2009


Thomas Mielke

Baltic Sea Tourism

Commission (BTC),

Managing Director

The conference took place in the

newly built Dorpat conference cen-

tre attached to the new Dorpat

hotel. The conference started witha welcome address by Tartus vice

mayor Karin Jaanson and by BTCs

President Niels Lund.

One of the conference highlights

was a panel discussion b ased on the

topi c The Baltic Sea Europes Cul-

tural Centre. On the panel were

Ieva Kalnina, project manager for

the Riga Tourism Coordination and

Information Centre, Kulli Karing,

vice president of Via Hansa, and

Elena Natale, head of administra-

tion for Tallinn 2011. Knut Hnschke

and Thomas Mielke were moderat-

ing the discussion. Focus was givento the importance of a European

cultural city for local inhabitants and

for tourists visiting the city. Here the

cooperation between culture peo-

ple and tourism companies was

highlighted.

Participants of BTC2009 in Tartu, 10 October 2009 Aitel Kpp

Participants of BTC2009 in Tartu, 10 October 2009 Aitel Kpp


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Summary

Coastal Areas FP 1 concent rat es on

the sustainable development of trav-

el destination s, products and servicesbased on culture and nature in the

coastal region and on ensuring their

accessibility. The aim for the future

is that operators in the Baltic Sea

Region will develop joint products

and services across borders, off ering

in this way memorable travel expe-

riences to the customers, profi tabil-

ity to the producers, and vitality to

the regions through new enterprises

and new jobs.

The development is based on recog-

nising the strengths of the regions,

on thematic profiling (for example

nature and culture tourism destina-tions), and on building partnerships

between the operators of various

branches.

The targets of the Flagship project

will be achieved through th e devel-

opment of a project, for which the

key to results and successful opera-

tional patterns lies in the use of op-

erators of various regions throughthe network.

The project consists of the following

parts:

Building of a network of partner-

ships in the Baltic Sea Region

Mapping the network of enter-

prises

Preparing the international men-

toring programme. The aim is for

peer and example enterprises to act

as mentors for business activities and

execute mutual exchange of employ-

ees to learn from each other.

Concentrating in, for example, de-

veloping the guest harbours to theregional service centres

Defining t he development of prod-

ucts and services based on customer

information

www.turkutouring.fi

Responsible organisations: Regional

Council of Southwest Finland and

Centre of Expertise for Tourism and

Experience Management of TurkuTouring, the regional tourism orga-

nisation of Southwest Finland

Developing tourism products in the

coastal regions of the Baltic Sea

South west Finland is responsible for

delivering the know-how and the

operational best practices to the

benefit of operators and tourism

enterprises. The target is to build a

Centre of Excellence co-operatio n

network of operators, universities

and polytechnics, and the public and

private sectors, in order to join the

resources of know-how and devel-

opment . The Flagship proj ect is con-centratin g especially on the develop-

ment of produ cts, services and acces-

sibility, based on culture and nature

in the coastal regions and according

to the principles of sustainability.

Increasing know-ho w and co-opera-

tion

The Baltic Sea Region has good pos-

sibilities to become a tourism re-

gion similar to the Mediterranean,

which has its own, special brand. It

is essential to work t ogether to in-

crease the know-how and the means

of co-operation between regions,

enterprises, and operators in orderto t urn t he Baltic Sea Region int o a

worldwide area of attraction. With-

out high quality product develop-

ment stemming from the needs of

the users and the necessary service

know-how, there will be neither

joint products nor a joint brand for

the Baltic Sea Region available f or

marketing.

Flagship Project 1:Attract tourists to rural areas especially thecoastal ones


Pivi Lappalainen

Centre of Expertise for

Tourism and Experience

Management, Turku Touring

Programme Director

The accessibility of Baltic Sea tou-

rism products

One product alone does not create

an attractive tourism destination.The services must be available to

the customers and the service chain

must function seamlessly together,

to make the travel experience suc-

cessful and m emorable. Ease of pur-

chase, travel comfort, and the net-

working of destinations will promote

the growth and competitiveness of

tour ism in the Baltic Sea Region.

The procedures

The project will start to build a NET-

WORK OF PARTNERSjoining togeth-

er the research and training, and the

operators and enterprises of public

and private sectors within the wholeBaltic Sea Region. The netw ork w ill

develop a unanimous set of guide-

lines for future development, in

order to discern and recognise the

future customers and their needs.

The MENTORING Programme joins

together the enterprises and opera-

tors of the various regions and coun-

tries, and increases the know-how in

sustainable product development.

The regions and enterprises form a

network covering the whole Baltic

Sea Region, making it is easier to

fin d strategic partner s and the best

operational practices.

A better understanding of the fu-

ture directions and the emphasis

points jointly developed by a large

body of operators will allow a more

effective use of the funding pro-

grammes and stro nger infl uence on

the development of f uture financing

programmes.

Innovations, onward! Turku Touring


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KrystynaHartenberger-Pater

Pomeranian Regional

Tourist Organization

Deputy Director

velopment in th e Baltic Sea Region.

The linkage of various ideas and

concepts will help generate recom-

mendations for the development oftourism sector products (e.g. com-

plex offers for potential visitors) and

indicate potential target markets

where promotion activities should

be focused.

All tasks undertaken aim at ensur-

ing the balanced development of

the Baltic Sea Region and its even

penetration by global as well as lo-

cal tourists. Considering the geo-

graphical reach and diversity of the

area of action, it is necessary to es-

tablish close cooperation and ensure

involvement of all interested parties.

The Pomorskie Province will at temptto accumulate all ideas and related

information, but it will firstly do its

best to generate new ideas and in-

spire cooperation among the tour-

ism and culture related communi-

ties, as well as among t he regio ns of

the Baltic Sea basin.

The first meeting is scheduled for

May 2010 in Gdansk. The partici-

pants to be invited are the or igina-

tors of project activities that imple-ment th e priori ties of the Baltic Sea

Strat egy, consultan ts and int erested

project benefi ciaries. The 2nd Baltic

Tourism Forum, to be held in Kalin-

ingrad in September 2010 will be an

opportunity to take stock, to identi-

fy fl agship projects which will deter-

mine the character of tourism devel-

opment in the Baltic Sea basin, and

to generate recommendations for

further cooperation. The FP3 lead-

ers performance will be coordinated

with FP1 and FP4, which will allow

for the exchange of experiences and

information and t he setting of com-

mon prior ities.www.woj-pomorskie.pl www.prot.gda.pl/en

The Pomorskie Province was invited

to act as a leader in a number of

projects which implement the ideas

of the Balti c Sea Strat egy. This was inrecognition of its active involvement

in Baltic Sea affair s and its experi-

ence with international and inter-

regional cooperation. The tourism

related pillar 12 of the Action Plan,

to Promote the Cultural Heritage

and th e Unique Landscapes , shall

aim at mapping projects based on

unique landscapes and natural area

conditions, which are also tourist

destinations. Furthermore, this iden-

tification will comprise all project

initiatives to preserve and revitalise

cultural heritage components.

Particular attention will also be paidto the cultural landscape which de-

rives from t he histori cal space shaped

by human activit y, including pr oducts

of its civilization and natural objects.

Areas of special value in terms of cul-

tural resources can be recognized as

cultural parks, allowing f or th e pres-

Flagship Project 2:Promote the cultural heritage and the uniquelandscapes


Marta Chekowska

Office of the Marshal of the

Pomorskie Voivodeship

Tourism Department

Director

ervation of unique anthropogenic

values coexisting in harmony with

the natural environment. Such forms

of prot ection arise from the need topreserve the continuity of the land-

scape tradition while allowing it t o

develop in accordance with regional

traditions. Both themes provide a

strong justification for implement-

ing projects which contribute to set-

ting dir ections for tourism develop-

ment in the Baltic Sea area and will

have a substantial infl uence on the

development of the image and rep-

utation of t his part of Europe.

The Pomorskie region will take ad-

vantage of the experiences gained

while leading international p rojects

fin anced with European fund s, aswell as its established network of

multi-institutional contacts in the

field of tourism and culture. The in-

ternational cooperation of project

coordinators will allow analysis and

research pr ojects to identify priority

directions for balanced tourism de-

Amber Museum Pomorskie Tourist Board Old town of Gdansk Pomorskie Tourist Board


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BSR Programme 2007-2013: Ongoing Tourism Projects

Dipl. oec.Betina Meliss

University of Greifswald,

Institute of Geography,

Project Coordinator

AGORA 2.0 Heritage Tourism for Increased Baltic SeaRegion Identity

The project AGORA 2.0 was appro ved

under the second call of the Baltic

Sea Region Programme 2007-2013.

Its main focus is on heritage tour-ism, with the term heritage meant

in a wider sense, not only referring

to UNESCOs world heritage list but

including all the varied natural and

cultural treasures of the region.

Building on previous experiences

and following the objectives of

the Baltic Sea Region Programme,

AGORA 2.0 will contribute to creat-

ing solutions for the sustainable use

of heritage potential, with benefitsfor tourism development, regional

business development and conser-

vation of heritage assets. Through

this project authorities, tourism pro-

fessional s, business associatio ns, sci-

entific institutions, and green and

cultural organisations will cooperate

with each other.

One of the work packages will es-

tablish BASTIS a Baltic Sea Herit -

age Tourism Informat ion Service. It

will include a collection of existing

and newly produced market data,

providing small and medium sized

tour ism enterprises (SME) with rel-evant market information to better

adjust future supply with customer

demands.

A web based collection of natural

and cultural heritage assets and a

final r anking of The 6 BSR Won-

ders shall contribute to make the

Baltic Sea Region as a common re-

gion - more visible, even beyond its

borders. Therefore partners will also

work on a common identity profile

to support marketing activities.

Five transnational pilot project

groups will work on concrete her-

itag e assets: castl es and museums,

red-brick gothic, shifting sand

dunes, forest, and the geological

asset stones . SWOT analyses of

the current situation and empirical

studies on visitors perceptions shall

provide a solid basis for developing

and implementing new innovative

ideas for tourism products. Under

the guidance of the universities and

using different creativity techniques,

experienced actors from different

field s of the t ourism business andother sectors shall generate new

fresh id eas.

Agora 2.0 contributes to the imple-

mentation of the EU Strategy for the

Baltic Sea Region, tour ism part.

www.agora2-tourism.net

Since 2003 the Institute of Geogra-

phy of Greifswalds University has

been actively involved in Baltic 21

an Agenda 21 fo r th e Baltic SeaRegion. Following agreement be-

tween the German Federal Ministry

of the Environment and the former

Ministry of the Environment Meck-

lenburg-Vorpommern in 2004, the

Institute has taken the responsibil-

ity as the German lead party of the

Baltic 21 tourism sector. Since then

many experiences have been gained,

good cooperation wit h stakeholders

in th e Baltic Sea Region w as built up,

and successful projects like AGORA

Network Sustainable Tourism De-

velopment in the Baltic Sea Region

were initiated and implemented.

The focus of t his flagship proj ect is

mainly on developing and support-

ing sustainable tourism, with a spe-

cial emphasis on rural areas, as well

as on the accessibility and use of nat-

ural and cultural heritage. Another

aim is to enh ance the pro cess of de-

veloping a common identity for the

Balti c Sea Region.

Strat egic cooperat ion wit h stake-

holders from t he entire Baltic Sea

Region is one of the most important

actions and shall be permanently

continued, in order to infl uence pol-

icies and to strengthen activities for

sustainable tourism development.In this regard, the lead has to take

over a coordinating function. The

collaboration wit h ongoing projects

such as EcoRegion, Park s & Benefit s,

Flagship Project 3:Develop strategies for a sustainable tourism


Prof.Wilhelm Steingrube

University o f Greifswald,

Institut e of Geography,

Head of Economic and

Social Geograph y

AGORA 2.0 or Baltic Green Belt (all

co-financed by the Baltic Sea Region

Programme 2007-2013) enables syn-

ergies and greater possibilities to re-alise relevant action s. For example:

- The project EcoRegion collects good

practices on sustainable develop-

ment among them tourism. A free

accessible database will provide this

information to the interested public

as well as provide support o n the use

of existing knowledge, methods and

experiences.

- Eight national parks from differ-

ent count ries around the Baltic Sea

are involved in the project Parks &

Benefits. All of them want to get

certifi cated as a EUROPARC inthe fut ure, despite different current

states of preparatio n. That means all

national parks have to comply with

the requirements of the European

Charter fo r Sustainable Tourism in

Protected Ar eas.

- AGORA 2.0 aims at creating solu-

tions for sustainable use of heritage

potentials. (Further information see

next page.)

From the beginni ng of January 2010,

Baltic 21 including its former Tour-

ism Sector will be integ rated int o

the Council of the Baltic Sea States(CBSS) as a new Expert grou p fo r

sustainable developmen t . Flagship

project 3 will become a relevant part

of its new strategy.

www.wisogeo.deMain building of Greifswald University

Jan Meerschmidt

Betina Meliss


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With the Ministry for Agriculture,

Environment and Consumer Protec-

tion in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern(DE) as the Lead Partner, the p roject

brings together 18 partner organi-

zations fro m Denmark, Estoni a, Ger-

many, Latvia, Lithuani a and Norw ay.

The partnership represents protected

area authorities, municipal, regional

and national public authorities,

universities and non-governmental

organisations. The location of the

protected areas involved is shown

on the map.The total budget of the project is ca.

2,7 Mio and the projects runtime

is from January 2009 until January

2012.

www.parksandbenefits.net

The Baltic Sea Region holds many

sites of typically Baltic and even out-

standing natural heritage which are

preserved in protected areas. Whilerespecting their conservation and

development objectives, sustainable

nature tourism within and around

protected areas can be or already

is- an important element of the re-

gional economies.

Up to now, this economic poten-

tial is on the one hand underdevel-

oped and offers vast possibilities

for the development of tourism, of

public-private partnerships and of

improved nature conservation. At

the same time, existing economic

performance can be widely underes-

timated, which often results in mis-leading discussions and prejudices

about the use of nature protection.

On the o ther hand, all stakeholders

in regions with protected areas need

to practice cooperation and com-

munication on an equal footing for

truly sustainable development.

The project Parks & Benefits will

introduce and strengthen sustain-able nature tourism approaches in

the Baltic Sea Region and commu-

nicate to prot ected parks and t heir

surrounding regions the mutual

benefits for regional development

and sustained natural development.

Parks & Benefits GeneratingSocio-Economic Effects by a SustainableManagement of Protected Areas


Olaf Ostermann

Ministry for Agriculture,

Environment and Consumer

Protection Mecklenburg-

Vorpommern, Department

for Nature Conservation

The main instrument is the transfer

of the European Charter for Sus-

tainable Tourism in Protected Areas

from Western and MediterraneanEurope to the Baltic Sea Region and

the joint implementation in eight

protected areas.

The European Charter for Sustain-

able Tourism in Protected Areas has

been developed by the EUROPARC

Federation Europes umbrella or-

ganisation for protected areas - to

enable parks to make a contribution

to sustainable development by gen-

erating best practices in the man-

agement of tourism in protected

areas. Indeed, t he European Charter

should be regarded as a contribu-

tion to Agenda 21, the sustainabledevelopment progr amme of the UN

agreed at Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

The Charter pro cess as well as Parks

& Benefi ts comprises SWOT-analy-

ses, visitor management standards,

quality development, cooperation

with local tourist stakeholders, and

progressive communication of sub-

stantial mutual benefits on a region-

al and/or international level.

The project wants to result in an

established networ k of certified

protected areas, an initial BSR-spe-

cific nature tour ism identity, and im-proved and innovative nature tour-

ism products, as well as improved

awareness and recognition of the

benefits of nature protection on a

political level.

Impressions from Zemaitija National Park in Lithuania

Olaf Ostermann

Protected areasparticipating in the Parks & Benefits project animare projektmanagement tourismus


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31


and improves the well-being of lo-

cal people. This form of sustain-able tourism is pursued in the Bal-

tic Green Belt, which comprises the

coastal areas of the south-eastern

and eastern Baltic from Lbeck to St.

Petersburg. These areas used to be

part of the Iron Curtain dividing east

and west and were therefore partly

or fully closed to the public due to

military use. As a consequence of


the restricted public use, these areas

nowadays hold outstanding natural

and cultural heritage. It is the vision

of the European Green Belt to pre-serve both t he natural and cultural

heritage in the area of the former

Iron Curtain by forming economi-

cally and ecologically sustainable

landscapes. One of the fundamen-

tal guidelines in the Green Belt ap-

proach is integration, which is also

reflected in t he tourism-oriented ac-

tivities within the project:

Integration of tourism and nature

protection on Vormsi island

Sustainable tourism is designed not

to harm the local natural environ-

ment beyond its carrying capacity.

One way to assure for this is to de-fine the tourism capacity in offi cial

agreements. The Estonian island of

Vormsi, located just east of the pop-

ular touristic islands of Hiiuma and

Saareema, Vormsi is much small er and

has a population of only about 260

people. The main touristic activities

promoted here are floral excursions

on coastal meadows, biking, hiking

and bird w atching. During previous

projects, touristic infrastructure has

been set up including trails, informa-

tion boards and guides. Within the

Baltic Green Belt project, tourism

will be fully integrated with nature

protection on t he island by intr oduc-ing tourism into the t en year nature

protection management plan of

Vormsi island. As the management

plan is to be developed in a partici-

pative manner, the roles of tourism

and nature protection will thus be

clearly defined by the people.

Integration of regional identity and

tourism in Kurzeme, Latvia

Regional identity of local residents

plays a major role in sustainabletourism. It is determined by common

history, common mentality, common

environment and many other fac-

tors. In order to get local residents

support for a touristic product, it is

important to include them in the

development of tourism products.

Within the Baltic Green Belt project,

the Latvian Country Tourism Asso-

ciation is giving a good example of

how to include a broad range of

residents into the development of

a touristic product. The product is

a military heritage tour including

biking and hiking trails, maps and

online information. The tour istic ob-jects are wat chtower s, bunker s, stor-

ages and other buildings left in the

coastal strip o f Kurzeme aft er Soviet

soldiers left the country. Residents

are called to contribut e their memo-

ries of the military heritage sites to a

tour istic online database. The stor ies

will then be used to develop infor-

mation material. The benefit of this

approach is that l ocals become more

sensitive towards their common her-

itage and are more likely to actively

participate in further development

in the future.

These examples are but two of thelocal pilot projects carried out within

the Baltic Green Belt project. In addi-

tion to tourism, coastal and marine

nature protection, environmentally

friendly farming, participative re-

gional development and integrated

coastal zone management are also

covered.

www.balticgreenbelt.net

Tourism is not only a growing eco-

nomical sector in the Baltic Sea Re-gion, it is also one of the few eco-

nomical sectors which can be fully

integrated with nature protection

and social development. Following

the definition of The International

Ecotourism Society, ecotourism as

one way of sustainable tourism is

responsible travel to natural ar-

eas that conserves the environment

Baltic Green Belt - Integrating natural andcultural heritage based tourism with natureconservation


Stefanie Maack

University of Kiel

Department of Geography

Coastal Geography &

Natural Hazards Research

Watchtower at the Latvian coast Lauku Celotajs

Ferry to t he small island of Vormsi Stefanie Maack

Mili tary Heritage Based Tourism Lauku Celotajs

Baltic Green Belt: pan-european context and project area Baltic Green Belt Lauku Celotajs


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Shifting Sand Dunes, Slowinski National Park

in Poland Betina Meliss

The Federal Ministry for the Environ-

ment, Nature Conservation and Nu-

clear Safety is a long-time advocate

of sustainable and climate-friendlytourism. The North and Baltic Seas,

being among the most popular holi-

day destinations, have a particular

role to play in achieving this goal.

The long-term economic success of

tourism relies heavily on an intact

environment. However, tourism that

is not sustainable can actually dam-

age nature and the environment.

Between 1900 and 1990 the rise in

tourism led to the loss of around 15

to 20 percent of t he dunes along Ger-

manys North and Baltic Sea coasts.

To help safeguard the regions

unique nature from the negativeeffects of increased tourism such as

greater tr affi c volumes, the sealing

of land for new hotel complexes and

higher pollution levels, the Federal

Environment Ministry supports the

development of sustainable tourism

concepts. This includes keeping t our-

ism services primarily in t he hands of

local actors, thus ensuring that the

value generated directly benefits

the local population.

Another important goal is to

strengthen peoples appreciation

for a r ich, intact environment and t o

tap this great potential for the de-velopment of new tourism services.

Through joint seminars, both visitors

and locals gain greater insight into

environmental issues. For instance,

Future prospects: Sustainable tourismin the Baltic Sea Region


Drte Ratzmann

Federal Ministry

for the Environment,

Nature Conservation and

Nuclear Safety, Germany

together with other German part-

ners, the Federal Environment Min-

istry supports a close cooperation

with t he region of Kaliningrad. Theprojects, which were launched in

2008, are being jointly implemented

with the Russian Ministry of Educa-

tion and the Kaliningrad Childrens

Centre for Environmental Education

and Tourism. In a variety of cour ses,

participants learn about the huge

biodiver sity of the Curonian Spit

and th e Zehlau Bog and discuss how

these can be used for new, sustain-

able t ourist services.

The tourism operator Viabono is

a good example of how sustain-

able tourism can be marketed suc-

cessfully. The Federal EnvironmentMinistry was campaigning for an

environmental umbrella brand for

tourism products as early as autumn

1999, and gave substantial support

to the launch of Viabono. The con-

cept which emerged was geared

directly to the needs of consumers

and the growing demand for envi-

ronmentally friendly holidays. To be

admitted into the Viabono range,

tour ism services and amenit ies must

meet certain crit eria. These cover all

the main areas relevant for tourism,

such as w aste, energy, water, n oise,

mobility, nature and landscape, ar-

chitecture and settlements, informa-tion, visitors well-being, regional

economic cycles and environmental

management.

Viabono gi ves consumers a high lev-

el of transparency regarding t he en-

vironmental impacts of tourism serv-

ices, thus making it easier to market

sustainable tour ism. Tourist services

along the German Baltic Sea coast

already include a range of consumer

friendly and environmentally sound

holiday cottages, apartments, camp-

ing sites and nature conservation ar-

eas, which in turn also benefit from

this marketing concept.www.bmu.de

Sunbathing... Freddie Bijkerk


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Elena Kropinova

Associated Professor

Servicesand Tourism

Department, Immanuel

Kant State University

of Russia, Kaliningrad

of sustainable tourism development

are presented within the courses

that include seminars. Studen ts can

elaborat e theses focused on sustain-able tourism development, eco-tour-

ism development and so on.

One of the recent research projects

conducted within the BUP and lead

by Christi ne Jakobsson is the EHSA

project Ecosystem Health and Sus-

tainable Agriculture. Within this

project 3 books for Master level

university education will soon be

published. Their titles are: Land Use

and Rural Development ; Sustainable

Agriculture; and Ecology and Animal

Health. Agrot ourism is viewed as one

priority activity in the countryside.

In addition to delivering the educa-

tional courses and holding studentconferences and seminars, the Baltic

University Programme organizes ed-

ucational cruises for students in the

Baltic Sea on either t he Pogoria or

Chopin sailing vessels, and cruises

on yachts in th e Mazurian Lakes, Po-

land. The duration of these cruises is

usually two weeks. During the cruis-

es student s learn a lot about sustain-

able development, the cruise area,

nature conditions, types of tourism

and other industries. At the end of

the cruise students make reports on

the trip. Taking part in this cruiseis a great opportunity for students

not only to learn about sustainable

tourism and eco-tourism, but also

to feel what it means to be an eco-

tourist and what sustainable tour-

ism is. In June 2009 a group of BUP

students with teachers participated

in t he Japanese Peace boat cruise in

the Baltic Sea. They travelled fr om

Stockhol m to St. Petersburg, Hel-

sinki, Copenhagen, Bergen and Rey-

kjavik while holding a wor kshop on

Sustainable Development toget her

with the Japanese environmental

group on board the ship. They also

held demonstrations for COP15 inCopenhagen, Bergen and Reykja-

vik. Another grou p of BUP students

and teachers sailed on the Brig Tre

Kronor in July 2009 in connection

with the Tall Ships Race. They held

a workshop on board on sustainable

development and held seminars in

both ports, Turku and Klaipeda.

www.balticuniv.uu.se

The Baltic University is a regional

university netw ork in th e Baltic Sea

Region. The Progr ammes main focus

is to produce and offer courses forstudies on sustainable development

of the region, of its environment

and its political changes. The Baltic

Sea Region is in this case the drain-

age basin of t he Baltic Sea. There are

14 countries completely or partially

within the basin, including the Nor-

dic and Balt ic Stat es, Russia, Polan d,

and Germany, as well as the major

inland states of Belarus, Ukraine and

the Czech and Slovak repub lics. The

region has 85 million inhabitants

constituting 11% of the population

of Europe.

About 225 universities are involved

in t he pr ogramme: Belarus 29, CzechRepublic 4, Denmark 5, Estoni a 13,

Finland 18, Germany 8, Latvia 12,

Lithuania 11, Norway 1, Poland 61,

Russia 20, Slovak Repu bli c 6, Swe-

den 20, Ukraine 9. The participating

universities includ e classical un iversi-

ties, as well as universities of t echnol-

ogy, agriculture, culture, economics,

pedagogics etc. The Baltic University

Programme Secretari at i s established

The Baltic University Programme Educationfor sustainable tourism development


Christine Jakobsson

Director

The Baltic University

Programme,

Uppsala University

as a unit at Uppsala Centre for Sus-

tainable Development at Uppsala

University. The Director of the Baltic

University Programme is Christine Ja-kobsson. The Programm e plans, pro-

duces and coordinates undergradu-

ate and master level courses using

modern educational technologies in

combination with traditional univer-

sity educational settings, and runs

joint research projects. At present

almost 10.000 students participate

at BUP courses and events annually.

The major activities in the network

are education (undergraduate and

master level education using mod-

ern information and communication

technologies), research (research

cooperation on a regional basis on

issues of sustainable development)and arranging conferences, train-

ings and other events for students

and university teachers.

There are 7 courses have been elab-

orated and delivered to students by

the Baltic University Programme and

their member universities in the net-

wor k. In the packages A Sustaina-

ble Baltic Region and Sustainable

Community Development the issues

Studentsfr om the BUPStudents Conference on Climate Change and Human Rights, 14-18 November

2009, Gneizno, Poland Christi ne Jakobsson

In all 76 studentsfrom 14 count riesparticipated in the latest BUPStudentsConference Christine Jakobsson


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them. All the att ractions are within

short distances from each other and

from bigger cities. Lakes in the Lahti

region increase the tourism value forthe entire area. In the future, focus

should be on identifying and solving

development challenges for sustain-

able water tour ism.

Organising workshops in which dif-

ferent stakeholders can converse

and exchange ideas is a way to get

entrepreneurs and locals interested

and committed to sustainability,

since the bottom-up approach is im-

portant for the success of sustain-

able tourism. The region needs to

identify its core competencies and

development needs (i.e. rejuvenat-

ing rural areas) to fi nd a base fromwhich to b uild tourism. Importance

should also be placed on the whole

chain of impacts that a tourist has

from getting to the destination,

to the impacts of the accommoda-

tions they use and activities they

undertake. This would include ef-

ficient public tr ansport, th e use of

already existing resources, and the

planning of activities in such a way

that there is a balance between the

use of environmental resources and

any negative environmental effects.

For example, low impact activitiessuch as paddling should be used for

minimum disturbance of wildlife

and local communities. The outdoor

recreation routes still need further

development and the lake sceneries

and attractions could be better pro-

moted.

The Lahti Region Environment Serv-

ice is taking part in t he ICER (Innova-

tive Concept of Eco-accommodation

approach in rural Regions) project,

in which partners exchange good

practices and fin d new solution s to

enhance sustainable tourism as a

livelihood . The projects (2010-2012)main objective is to create more ef-

fective economic attractiveness poli-

cies in rural areas for the tourism

sector and to provide tangible and

long lasting results. ICER will be a

step fo rward in creating investments

for tourism in rural areas, as well

as developing sustainable tourism

methods.

www.lahti.fi

LAKES Lahti Regional Develop-

ment Company is preparing a new

tourism strategy for 2010-2015. One

of t he development focus is to makethe most of Lake Pijnne in tourism

terms. This article introduces three

previous studies made in co-opera-

tion with The Lahti University of

Applied Science and outlines Pijt-

Hme Countys strengths in sustain-

able tourism.

The first study dealt w ith senior

tourism in Lahti region. The objec-

tive was to outline customer needs

for tourism services and the service

supply. The fi rst part focused on cus-

tomer behaviour and tourism expe-

riences. The second part included in -

terviews of tourism entrepreneurs inthe Lahti region and outlined special

characteristics of senior tourists and

suitable tourism services for them in

the area.

The second study was part of Inter-

reg IIIC WaterTour Developing

Improvement of competitiveness of

SMEs and w ater t ourism regio ns by

innovative strategies and technolo-

State analysis of opportunities for sustainablewater tourism at southern Lake Pijnne,Finland


Marjaana Salomaa

Lahti University of

Applied Sciences,

Faculty of Tourism and

Hospitality

gies. Part of the study involved map-

ping the products, prices, distribu-

tion and marketing communications.

The study focused on e-marketingand gave suggestion s for developing

marketing means and channels, and

ideas for product development.

The third study concerned outdoor

activities and nature-based tour-

ism across the project areas of Pi-

jt-Hme, Kymenlaakso and South-

Karelia. The main part of project

consisted of collecting, describing

and mapping over 2000 kms of out-

door route selections. The routes

serve recreational activities like cy-

cling, trekking, riding, snowmobile

driving, paddling and nature based

tourism. Another component con-cerned the marketing of routes and

their more suitable development for

tourism purposes.

There are many attractions in the

Lahti region. There are several har-

bours for boats and cruising, islands,

nature conservation areas, the lakes

of Pijnne, Vesijrvi and Ruot-

salainen, and two canals connecting

Winter sportson t he lakes Marjaana Salomaa

Andr Schnuhr Andr Schnuhr


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ence opportunities. As a member of

the Europarc Federation the nature

park follows a number of its guiding

principles.

Clean beaches. A coastal awareness

raising action has been developed

in Region Zealand in 2009 involving

10 of the 17 municipalities. A beach

exhibition shows guests how long

it takes waste to decompose in na-

ture, while citizen groups are clean-

ing t he beaches. In 2010, there i s the

intention to involve the remaining

municipalities, and if possible to dis-

seminate the concept to the rest of

Denmark.

Eco-tours - Learning experiences.

The Instructive Environmental Expe-rience project aims to promote all-

year-round tourism in Region Zea-

land by developing active learning

experiences for different audiences

focused on environmental issues

which speak to common sense, ex-

perience, culture and dialogue. The

project develops package tours for

travel arrangers in dialogue with the

site ho sts.

Local produce - gastronomic tour-

ism. During the past approximately

10 years, a number of networks

dealing with locally grown products

have developed, as well as severalproducers and restaurants which

give priority to culinary heritage and

new local products. On top of these

initiatives, a series of regional food

events such as The Day of t he Ap-

ple and Mother Earth have been

developed.

Baltic perspectives

The experiences in Region Zealand

and our participation in interna-

tional projects point to a number offield s where action is needed in or-

der to promote sustainable destina-

tions in the Baltic Sea Region:

1. Awareness raising about sustain-

able development and its practical

implications for tourism enterprises

and other destination actors.

Ecoregion Perspective

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