Report Conference Sustainable Tourism in the Carpathians A joint effort of the Seven Parties of the Carpathian Convention

Transcription

1 Report Conference Sustainable Tourism in the Carpathians A joint effort of the Seven Parties of the Carpathian Convention (Salonek Frankovka, Hotel Galant, Mikulov, Czech Republic, ) The Conference on Sustainable Tourism in the Carpathians took place before the official start of the Fourth meeting of the Conference of Parties of the Carpathian Convention (COP4) in Hotel Galant, Mikulov, Czech Republic on The meeting brought together 38 participants from governmental and non-governmental organizations, and business sector from all seven Carpathian countries, Austria, Bulgaria and Germany. (Please see the List of Participants in Annex I) The main aim of the Conference was to inform the relevant stakeholders about the Final Draft of the Strategy for the Sustainable Tourism Development of the Carpathians ready for the adoption at COP4 on In addition, various projects and case studies were presented that support the implementation of the Strategy. (Please see Agenda for the Conference in Annex II) Mr. Michael Meyer, Ecological Tourism in Europe, Germany, opened the meeting, welcomed the participants and introduced the programme. Welcome note was then given by Mr. Rostislav Hosek, Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, the host government who introduced Mikulov as the best destination in south Moravia. He informed the participants about the Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism in the Czech Republic and expressed that the implementation of the Strategy shall be based on it. Mr. Harald Egerer, UNEP Vienna ISCC, Austria, gave second welcome note. He informed about the process of ratification of the Tourism Protocol and states that Carpathian mountains play an important role internationally and locally and development of

2 sustainable tourism would bring an added value. The adoption of the Strategy at COP4 would be the main output of the meeting beside the Transport Protocol. Mr. Egerer also introduced a new pan- Carpathian tourism map. Mr. Florian Carius, Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Germany thanked the Czech hosts and thanked Ecological Tourism in Europe and its partners for organizing the event. Mr. Carius informed that the German government is happy that the Tourism Protocol was ratified and the Strategy for the development of sustainable tourism elaborated. To express the potential of Carpathians, Mr. Carius used a small anecdote from a cartoon about Alps, where the tourists looked around and agreed they need new mountains as it is so developed. Therefore the Carpathians need to develop tourism connected to the landscape. German tourists spent 83 billion EUR abroad last year so there is a need for good management of destinations to control the impact. The Strategy will be a new tool for sustainable tourism development in the Carpathians and should help strengthening relations among stakeholders and local population, improve their pride of culture and traditions. Examples of good practices and already achieved results serve as something to be proud of already. Mr. Carius suggests the Carpathian countries to attend the next years ITB together and use it as a platform to promote themselves and present the good countries. After welcome notes, Mr. Meyer presented the process of implementation of the project for developing the Strategy. The Tourism Protocol was adopted as a legally binding document but it mentioned there is a need for a document for its implementation. The TP was adopted in Bratislava at COP3 and then the process for elaborating of the Strategy has started. In total, there are around 120 contributors to the content of the Strategy. At the moment, the main focus should be put on financial arrangements and coordination function, although the Carpathian Coordination Center was removed from the text for different reasons. Therefore the Working Group on Sustainable Tourism of the Carpathian Convention (CC-WGST) need to coordinate the actions and stakeholders at the beginning. The paper needs to be converted into actions. Mr. Laszlo Puczko, Xellum Ltd., Hungary, gave a presentation on challenges for sustainable tourism in the Carpathians. He presented the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the sustainable tourism in the area and expressed the need for governments to look at them.

3 When drafting the Strategy, the authors did not want to compare the Carpathians to Alps as this is a mountain range that can learn from various examples however there is no need to copy them. The development should be approached in a rational and objective way as tourists are interesting species. Mr. Dawid Lasek, Carpathian Euroregion, Poland, presented the Carpathian brand they have been developing. As part of their project, they are elaborating the needs of all the nations coming together in the Carpathian area. They are working on key points of identity for the brand. The country experts presented four Case Studies on Good Practices on Sustainable Tourism in the Carpathians and Ms. Kristina Vilimaite, CEEweb for Biodiversity, Hungary, facilitated the presentations. The presentations were carried out as follows: Romania, Eco-tourism in Romania - Andrei Blumer, Association of Ecotourism in Romania Slovakia, National Park Muranska planina Zuzana Okanikova, OZ Pronatur Serbia, News from Djerdap National Park Ivan Svetozarevic, Vavel poslovi turizma Ukraine, Apiary: a Sweet Attraction Valentyn Voloshyn, Ukrainian Eco and Active Tourism Association Q&A session followed the presentation of case studies. Following points were raised during the discussion: - necessity to improve the service quality which is strongly connected to tourism related education. - lack of actions in the Strategy in regards to transport. Tourism is one of the most important drivers to CO2 emissions. - need to bring working group on sustainable tourism and cultural heritage together to work on different subjects. This will be a challenging task.. - the plan on promotion in western countries is up to national governments and how they combine their marketing budgets. - need to find a proper common monitoring system to be used in destinations. Ms. Tamara Mitrofanenko, UNEP Vienna ISCC then presented the project InRuTou that can contribute to implementation of the Strategy. The project aims at developing and testing a set of tools for facilitating the development of sustainable tourism in rural areas, specifically in mountain region. They want to achieve this by fostering community consultation process. They want to train existing and new local tourism operators through e-learning and online sharing platform.

4 Mr. Karol Biedrzycki, Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Poland showed the participants a video of new project managed by UNEP Grid on creating a map of tourism destinations in the Carpathians. (you may find the video: CarpathianInformatoryENG.mp4) Mr. Meyer wrapped up the session and wished the participants nice stay in Mikulov and hoped they will stay also for COP4. Annex I 1. Adela Maria Talpes, Greentourism Ecological Association, Romania 2. Andrea Hagovska, Centrum rozvoja turizmu PSK pre oblast Vysoke Tatry, Slovakia 3. Andrea Nemes, Tourism and Catering Department, Ministry for National Economy, Hungary 4. Andrei Blumer, Association of Ecotourism in Romania 5. Anton Kaminski, Association of the Carpathian Euroregion, Poland 6. Christian Baumgartner, Naturefriends International, Austria 7. Constantin Serban, Greentourism Ecological Association, Romania 8. Dasa Szaboova, Tourism Section, Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development, Slovak Republic 9. Dawid Lasek, Association of the Carpathian Euroregion, Poland 10. Dejan Zagorac, Eko centar, Serbia 11. Emil Vaklinov, Association Rhodope mountains without borders, Bulgaria 12. Florian Carius, German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Germany 13. Gabor Kiss, Ministry of Agriculture, Hungary 14. Harald Egerer, UNEP Vienna ISCC, Austria 15. Hildegard Meyer, WWF International Danube-Carpathian Programme, Austria 16. Ivan Svetozarevic, Vavel poslovi turizmu, Serbia 17. Jan Holovsky, Ministry of Culture, Czech Republic 18. Karol Biedrzycki, Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Poland 19. Kristina Vilimaite, CEEweb for Biodiversity, Hungary 20. Laszlo Puczko, Xellum Ltd., Hungary

5 21. Lesya Loyko, Agency for sustainable development of Carpathian region FORZA, Ukraine 22. Maria M. Galambos, Ministry of Agriculture, Hungary 23. Maria Napiorkowska, Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Poland 24. Marina Ilic, GEC, Serbia 25. Martina Voskarova, Ecological Tourism in Europe, Germany 26. Michael Meyer, Ecological Tourism in Europe, Germany 27. Milena Milosevic Micic, The Homeland Museum of Knjazevac, Serbia 28. Natalia Shovkoplias, Union of Towns and Cities of Slovakia 29. Ondrej Vitek, Nature Conservation Agency, Czech Republic 30. Paul Tomandl, Sib Medwed GmbH, Austria 31. Rostislav Hosek, Ministry for Regional Development, Czech Republic 32. Tamara Malkova, ICO Green Dossier, Ukraine 33. Tamara Mitrofanenko, UNEP Vienna ISCC, Austria 34. Valentyn Voloshyn, Ukrainian Eco and Active Tourism Association, Ukraine 35. Volodymyr Korzhov, Ukrainian Research Institute of Mountain Forestry, Ukraine 36. Zsuzsanna Fekete, Prime Minister s Office, Hungary 37. Zuzana Okanikova, OZ Pronatur, Slovakia 38. Zuzana Tollrianova, Ministry of the Environment, Czech Republic Annex II

6 PROGRAMME Conference SustainableTourismintheCarpathians Ajointeffortof thesevenpartiesof thecarpathianconvention (SalonekFrankovka, Hotel Galant, Mikulov, , 10:00 13:00) 10:00OpeningoftheConference WelcomeNote - RostislavHosek, Ministryfor Regional Development of theczech Republic WelcomeNote - HaraldEgerer, Secretariat of thecarpathian Convention, UNEP-Vienna WelcomeNote - FlorianCarius, Federal Agencyfor NatureConservation, Germany Keynote- IntroductiontotheprocessandcontentoftheCarpathianTourismStrategy - Michael Meyer, Ecological TourisminEurope, Germany Keynote ChallengesforsustainabletourismintheCarpathians - Laszlo Puczko, XellumLtd., Hungary KeyNote- BrandingasacontributiontotheimplementationoftheCarpathianTourismStrategy - DawidLasek, Carpathian Euroregion Poland PresentationofCaseStudiesonGoodPracticesonSustainableTourismintheCarpathians - Kristina Vilimaite, CEEweb for BiodiversityBudapest, and CountryExperts Presentation of InRuTou - a project contributing to sustainable tourism development in the Carpathians - Tamara Mitrofanenko, UNEP-Vienna Question&Answer+WrapupSession 13:00ClosureoftheConference Partners: Financed by: