On behalf of Latvia Travel and Baltic Nature Tourism, we are delighted to invite you to a product presentation seminar and a networking reception at the Latvian Embassy in London on Thursday 18th April 2024.  Come and hear the latest news and tourism developments from Latvia and the Baltic States as well as meeting Latvian nature tourism suppliers joining us for the afternoon.  Now, with additional flights to Riga, there has never been a better time to promote one of the most beautiful and natural destinations in Europe, Engage in discussions with Latvian partners along with drinks and authentic snacks including some Latvian specialities!

18 Apr 2024, 15:00 – 17:30

Embassy of the Republic of Latvia, 45 Nottingham Pl, London W1U 5LY, UK

>>> Program (PDF)

>>> Presentation (PDF - Asnāte Ziemele, Lauku ceļotājs)

>>> Video: Baltic Nature Tourism in different seasons

Latvian and Estonian nature and active tourism entrepreneurs will go to Finland on a study trip from April 25-28.

>>> Program (PDF)

Program by Anneli Kana (Estonian Rural Tourism association / tourism enterpreneur, guide)
annelikana@gmail.com
phone +372 5288810 (Estonian), +358466560528 (Finnish)

As part of the "Change creators" project, Anders Lindgren, an expert from Sweden, visited the association "Ethnic Culture Center "Suiti"" in Kurzeme in March. He got to know Alsunga and gained a better understanding of the association's activities. The expert also prepared a workshop for children to try to better understand how to involve them in the activities of Suiti. Some valuable ideas and conclusions were drawn from this collaboration.

On March 11 and 12, the Baltic Nature Tourism project team from Latvia and Estonia met for a spring meeting in Tallinn.
Baltic Nature Tourism's platform balticnaturetourism.com, created last year, currently unites more than 100 entrepreneurs in Latvia and Estonia. Its purpose is to provide a starting point for nature tourism entrepreneurs in Latvia and Estonia to reach the UK market. Baltic Nature Tourism is not a reservation system, but an online platform where it is easy for travelers and tour operators to find the offer they are interested in and communicate directly with entrepreneurs by making a reservation without an intermediary.

During the meeting, we looked back at the work done so far and together we planned the upcoming activities.

>>> Presentaion (Asnate Ziemele, Lauku celotajs, Latvia)
>>> Presentation (Anna Saļņikova, Lauku celotajs, Latvia)

>>> Presentation (Andy Fairburn & Paul Wagner, Nordic Tourism Collective, UK)
>>> Photo gallery
>>> Meeting minutes

As part of the "Change creators" project, Agnieszka Dadak, an expert from Poland, visited the association "Watermarks" in Selonia in March. She got to know both Kaldabruņa village and the Selonia region as a whole, meeting people from the association "The Islands of Selonia" as well. This gave her the opportunity to help with ideas on how to attract foreign tourist groups and with a perspective on how to include the local Červonka church in the tourism offer.

This week, 26-27 February, partners from Latvia and Lithuania of the new project "Extending the Baltic military heritage tourism product in Lithuania and South Latvia (Military Heritage II)" met in the first partner meeting in Riga in order to start active work on the expansion and development of the Baltic military heritage tourism product.

The networking cruise for all the captains of tourism industry. Networking on a ship - is it possible? Yes, it is! On the way from Helsinki to Stockholm we were participating in discussion about tourism in the Baltics with the representatives of key players of the industry from Germany, Mediterranean, North America, Latin America, South East Asia, Japan, India and Caucasus.

This baseline survey report summarises and analyses information gathered during the qualitative and quantitative research process realized in the spring/summer 2023. The aim of the research was mapping the existing business models applied by the alternative (independent) cultural and creative entities operating on sparsely populated, non-urban areas in Europe.

The data were collected, first of all, in 4 partnering, European countries: Poland, Sweden, Italy and Latvia. In the report, the findings are being analysed in order to try to create a better understanding of the sector and some general recommendations for improvement/strengthening the sector on the European level, without losing any of its core values, rather enhance them.

Report in English can found HERE.

Report in Latvian can be found HERE.

On the 13th and 14th of November the future of Nordic nature tourism is discussed. 

On October 25, we participated in the "Smart Wednesday" organized by the Latvian Rural Forum to present one of our latest projects "Change Creators. Innovative business models for the non-urban creative sectors". The main aim of the project is to contribute to innovation, sustainability and resilience of the alternative cultural and creative places (ACaCPs) located on the sparsely populated areas through discovering, testing and introducing new business models and audience development models.

During the online meeting, we informed about the project idea, goals, planned works and already completed tasks. We also shared the conclusions and recommendations that arose during the national research, surveying and interviewing alternative culture and creative places in Latvia.