On the 2nd and 3rd of October, the “PESTO” conference took place in Graz (Austria) and the project TransCSR (Transparency of CSR skills through ECVET in European tourism) was presented by the lead applicant kate. 
PESTO stands for Promotion and networking of EU projects on sustainable tourism. The conference had been organized by the network E.N.T.E.R, which aims at transferring and exploiting EU Project Results. 

Together with European partners we have started a new EU project. The aim is to research and analyse senior travellers' market, to establish their needs and wishes and to make realistic and practical products based on the findings. The idea is also to incourage international cooperation between product providers and senior organization in order to introduce established products into market.

Go Rural is a manual of rural tourism in Latvia for tourists as well as travel professionals.

In this brochure we try to show Latvia through its best products and people who produce and grow them. We bring out rural feeling and places where you could go and relax as if visiting your grandma in the countryside. Fruits and vegetables in the gardens are available for your own picking.

Several tours are ideal for families with children. During these tours children can see and learn from where the food is coming, feed and pat some farm animals and enjoy nature.

In our tours we bring out the typical Latvian taste providing various tasting opportunities at the farms, country houses, local pubs and restaurants. We have several food and drink tours for groups. There are also crafts tours which allows to learn some useful skills.

Using our many years' experience we also organize professional agro tours and provide consultation about rural tourism.

See electronic version here.

''Lauku ceļotājs'' have created a handbook and online training platform for rural tourism businesses - „Your Rural Tourism Business - Run it Smart”.

Latvian Country Tourism Association is a partner in the project „Corporate Social Responsibility Training'',  where partners from Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Poland, Crotia and Greec have gathered, to apply in their home countries Travelife Sustainability System for Tour Operators & Travel Agencies, with aim to rise awarnese of tourism impact, manage and improve social and environmental actions by complying with the sustainability criteria, as well as to support effective measures, trainings and consultations. More information about Travelife system can be found here http://www.travelife.info/ Press release about project updates can be found here!

Atveriet projekta lapu jaunā logā

On the 17^th and 18^th of June, the University College of Birmingham (England) have hosted the 9 partners of the EU project TransCSR (Transparency of CSR skills through ECVET in European tourism, EC Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation (DE/13/LLP-LdV/TOI/147659)) in order to plan the next steps of this Life Long Learning project.

The 21st International Travel Trade Fair Balttour 2014, 7–9 February at Kipsala International Exhibition Centre, invites to try the new season’s best and most attractive travel deals in Latvia, the Baltics and around the world!

On 6–8 February 2014, Riga will host the "Balttour" forum – the opening event of the leading travel trade fair in the Baltics, "Balttour 2014" – which will be attended by more than 350 tourism professionals from more than 15 European and Central Asian countries.

Because we Latvians eat so many potatoes, why not celebrate the potato harvest?  Country Traveller has joined with the Latvian Association of Potato Growers and Processors and the Kalnciema Street Block to organize a Potato Festival!

The County Traveller information tent will be an embassy for the countryside.  Here you will be able to find the best places to find the widest variety of countryside goodies, from potatoes to grapes. The Putni folklore group will bring music to the celebration, and later the women of Rucava will demonstrate their song skills.  After that, potato growers will take the stage to share in their wisdom – which types of potatoes are best for crispy potato pancakes, which ones are most productive, which ones are in the greatest demand, which ones should be bought, which ones should be planted, etc. Ēriks Dreibants from the Trīs Pavāru Restaurant will offer a master’s class on using modern recipes to cook potatoes. Sandra Aigara from the “Zvanītāji” traditions centre and the women from Rucava will get busy with traditional dishes such as Kurzeme soured soup, potato packets with creamy bacon sauce, and crispy potato pancakes with bacon. You will learn many interesting facts about potatoes. There will be potato relay races and competitions. 

Festival programme here.

Media information here.

To promote countryside travelling and to give a presentation of what a visitor would experience and enjoy in the countryside we have produced 7 new videos http://www.celotajs.lv/cont/about/video_en.html. Each one is about half a minute story about a particular topic: seasons of a year, open farms and craft shops, Latvian symbols, etc. The videos are presented in our web site, social networks, and they will be demonstrated in rural tourism promotional events.