Tourism in the BSR

On 21-24 March 2007 a working meeting of the Commission of Tourism was held in Palanga, Lithuania. The meeting was to sum up the upcoming work period and present the projects scheduled for accomplishment this year.

In total, 8 delegates from UBC member cities from 4 countries - Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland participated in the meeting. The sessions were chaired by Mr Ryszard Zdrojewski, Chairman of the Commission.

Ms Irena Satkauskiene presented Palanga describing the tourist infrastructure development, history of the SPA and the best attractions. The next presentation performed by Mr Ryszard Zdrojewski pertained to Koszalin. The Chairman proposed the following issues were discussed: how to identify the best attractions of the town/city, how to prepare the local tourist product based on those attractions, how to promote it and how to asses effectiveness of the action taken.

Natural beauty, clean environment, sport and entertainment facilities, rich SPA & wellness offer, rehabilitation and medical treatment offer, cultural events, interesting history, famous people and local legends, etc. were listed as the factors contributing to the attractiveness of the city.

Mr Ryszard Zdrojewski presented two projects - 3^rd edition of the "Foto-such & Qiuzfahrt", which started on 15 March and the project called "Baltic Sea Region - Perfect Tourism Zone", that resulted in publishing the catalogue in 5.500 copies. The catalogue is aimed at increasing interest in the BSR among potential tourists. The Commission announced issuing the 2^nd extended and updated edition. The catalogue will be distributed among the member cities through the UBC office at Brussels, the Secretariat in Gdansk, during G-8 Summit in Heiligendamm near Rostock and during the UBC General Conference in Pärnu.

The Chairman presented the idea of organising this year a competition on knowledge about the Baltic Sea Region named "Meet BSR - your homeland". The first finals were proposed to be held in December 2007 in Koszalin. The Commission approved this project.

The annual meeting of the Commission of Tourism UBC will be held in September 2007 in Pärnu, Estonia, on the occasion of the UBC General Conference.