New Leader of the Commission on Tourism

During the UBC General Conference in Turku in September 2005, the Commission on Tourism held a separate meeting at the Tourist Information Centre in Turku.

Mr Kyrre Dahl from Kalmar, Sweden, who has chaired the commission since 1999, decided to leave this position at the end of 2005. During the meeting in Turku the city of Koszalin in Poland was elected as a new leader. Koszalin, also called "the green city", annually has around 37 000 visitors coming for recreation or cultural events. 40% of the city area is covered by parks, green spots and forest. Koszalin chose to take over the leadership of the Commission to increase the understanding of the role of tourism in the united Europe. The city, which is located on the Baltic, is dependent on tourism development in the area and wishes to play an active role in the work of the UBC.

During the Swedish chairmanship, the ambitions of the commission have been: to increase the value and understanding of questions concerning tourism in the political system, to build a network of people working in the field of tourism, to develop activities in exchange, to focus on education and to be a helpful hand in initiating EU-projects.

In total, 47 cities around the BSR have been participating in the projects initiated within the Commission on Tourism. 17 projects have been initiated, dealing with tourism related issues in one way or another. Among the larger ones, above all two projects should be mentioned:

1. BSR Interreg III B Baltic Welcome Centre, which deals with the development of service and quality at tourist information centres. With a total budget of 1 500 000 Euro, partners from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Norway, have worked together for 3 years, developing quality guidelines for TIC:s in the region. Cities in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia and Poland have participated in the project with funding from the Phare and Tacis programmes.

2. BSR Interreg III B Ancientimes (Ancient Times) deals with making the common history of the BSR more alive. It is a pilot project on how to integrate culture, history, education and tourism in one concept. The project aims at developing cultural heritage sites into attractions, where the visitors not only learn about their history but also actively take part in the activities in an authentic environment. The total Interreg budget is 1 600 000 Euro and there are partners from Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Norway. Also in this project a Latvian city is participating within the Phare programme.