Commission on Tourism met in Jurmala

The annual meeting of the UBC Commission on Tourism was held in J?rmala, Latvia on 27-29 September. The meeting was devoted to a debate on Commission's work during the last year, as well as to presenting the next year actions.

The guests were welcomed by Mayor of Jarmala, Mr Raimonds Munkevics. The meeting was attended by 14 delegates from 6 countries - Finland, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.

The sessions were chaired by Mr Ryszard Zdrojewski, Chairman of the Commission who is also the director of the Department of Development and Foreign Cooperation, Koszalin. Mrs Gunta Uspele delivered the presentation about the development of tourist infrastructure, spa history and the biggest attractions of Jurmala. Mr Ryszard Zdrojewski presented the report from the Commission's working meeting held in May 2006 in Koszalin, the adopted new Commission's objectives and projects. Additionally, the achieve-ments in tourism of the cities as well as the problems hampering the development of tourism, actions and projects were presented and discussed. The following persons took floor: Ronny Andersen (Kristiansand), Liisa Lemmetyinen (Turku), Aivar Nikol (Voru), Triin Toompuu (Haapsalu), Eda Toomsalu (Pärnu), Irena Satkauskiene (Palanga), Liutauras Kraniauskas (Klaipeda) and Davis Kalnins (Liepaja).

Mr Zdrojewski also presented accomplishment of two projects the International Competition of Knowledge about Poland and Scandinavia and Fotosuch-Quizfahrt. He announced the continuation and development of these projects next year, as well as the publication of the UBC member cities information tourist centres catalogue. The use of the EU funds available in 2007 was considered.

It was decided that the Commission should call all the UBC sea-side members to obtain the "Blue Flag" status for their beaches. The Commission also paid a number of study visits that enriched the meeting with tourist practice dimension: to Dzintari Concert Hall, Jurmala City Tourist Information Centre, Art. Theatre, Livu Aquapark and Kemeri National Park.

The next working meeting will be held in March or April and the annual meeting - in September 2007.