The annual Nordic International Cider Awards (NICA) will be held from September 6th to 9th as part of "RigaFood 2023," the largest food industry fair in the Baltic region. Cider production is a new industry in Latvia, but already now Latvian natural cider competes on an equal footing with European, Nordic, and global ciders from countries and regions with long-standing cider-making traditions. By organising the NICA competition in Riga this year, we want to showcase the excellent quality and potential of natural cider to become a national beverage, similar to the Nordic countries where cider is served at state receptions as well as social gatherings.

The MOST project between Latvia, Greece, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan ends this June. Within the framework of the project, a round table discussion was held in May on the topic "EU Grant Project MOST - sustainable tourism development vector in Kazakhstan". Representatives from agencies, associations, hotels, travel and consulting companies gathered at the event in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. We also participated in it to share our experience with entrepreneurs both in relation to our environmental quality mark "Green Certificate" and how to overcome rising prices for services and how to develop infrastructure. Also, our expert Juris received many good words for the useful and valuable seminars he created and led during the project for entrepreneurs in the tourism industry in Asian countries.

Turpinot darbu pie dabas tūrisma produkta izstrādes, 10. un 11. maijā uz saulainās Prangli salas Igaunijā tikāmies ne vien projekta partneri, bet arī Latvijas un Igaunijas uzņēmēji, kas sniedz dabas tūrisma produktus, projekta vadības grupa un Apvienotās Karalistes dabas tūrisma eksperti. Esam uz pareizā ceļa un mums ir plāns kā aizsniegt UK tirgu. Projekta partneru tikšanos papildināja iespēja iepazīties ar Prangli salas dabas tūrisma piedāvājumu - braucieni ar jūras kajakiem, velo maršruti iepazīšana, pārgājienu takas, u.c.

We have started work on the project "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 located on the sparsely populated areas through discovering, testing and introducing new business models and audience development models. The project brought together partners from four countries: Poland, Sweden, Italy and Latvia.

From April 17 to 19, the first meeting in the project "Improving baseline knowledge among tourism stakeholders in Protected Nature Areas for more sustainable tourism in Nordic – Baltic region" took place in the Kullaberg nature reserve, which is located in the Skåne region in Sweden. During the meeting, the partners introduced their organizations and discussed the activities and tasks planned in the project. The partners visited Kullaberg visitor center and local businesses - tourism service providers and did the hiking route.

The MOST project between Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Greece and Latvia is slowly coming to an end. In the course of the project, we shared experience and practical knowledge about sustainable and nature-friendly tourism management, using our environmental quality mark "Green Certificate" as an example. Together with Central Asian colleagues, we worked on new ideas for tourism products and their marketing, highlighting the local identity of these countries and strengthening cooperation between tourism organizations, local communities and tourism entrepreneurs.

This year, we have launched a new Baltic nature tourism project with the aim of developing a joint Latvian and Estonian nature tourism product adapted to the interest of UK tourists, positioning it in the market using a special marketing campaign, and increasing sales volumes.

We are looking for service providers who offer nature tourism services and wish to join this nature tourism web platform for the UK market.
To get involved, please fill out the application form, indicating the nature tourism services you provide: https://forms.gle/zrEXFrH5PBjvQocB9.

The MOST project team met for the fourth steering committee meeting online via Zoom platform on February 2. They discussed the work done in the third year, as well as the tasks planned until the end of the project. We, "Lauku ceļotājs", as before, continued to share our knowledge of sustainable tourism and environmentally friendly management. In February, our expert Juris spent three weeks in the Uzbekistan's cities Bukhara and Khiva, where he shared his experience with tourism industry professionals in this country. He also worked together with entrepreneurs on new ideas for tourism products - for example, a pilaf cooking master class was organized in the old town to popularize the city's culinary heritage. Juris also visited various tourist attractions and enjoyed the hospitality of local residents in order to get to know Uzbekistan's tourism offer better. In the third year of the project, we also got involved in creating marketing activities to promote the project and its achieved results to a wider audience.

Kick-off project partner meeting, 25th of January, 2023, Riga.
The objectives of the project are to develop a joint Latvian-Estonian nature tourism product tailored for the UK market, to launch it through a dedicated marketing campaign, and to achieve sales. The nature tourism product will be based on individual SME nature tourism products, professionally packaged and accessible from an innovative specialized nature tourism web platform linking directly product providers with the market - free independent travellers, specialized interest groups, and tour operator companies specialized in Baltic countries. The nature tourism product will include wildlife and birding holidays, nature photography, soft adventure: hiking, walking, cycling, boating, and also touring programs to include elements and values of nature, e.g., botanical, wildlife spotting, wellness/Spa, food and foraging. This concept meets the current demand in the UK market where nature tourism, escape to nature, rural holidays, outdoors wildlife are on-trend words.

Presentations:

>>> Meeting minutes

An important and frightening part of the "legacy" of the First and Second World Wars - CHEMICAL WEAPONS - has been sunk to the bottom of the Baltic Sea. You could call it a kind of time bomb. Below are just a few facts described in scientific publications.