Coastal hiking

Project Hiking Route along the Baltic Sea Coastline in Latvia – Estonia Project number: ESTLAT22

Posted on by lauma

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the project is to develop a hiking tourism route along the Baltic sea coastline in Estonia and Latvia as a tourism product to attract visitors to the area. The route will stretch along the Southwest coastline in Latvia, starting from the border with Lithuania and through Latvia to Laane county region in Estonia, including Estonian islands as a side attraction. Precise location of the route will be defined during the project implementation together with local stakeholders and relevant authorities.

TARGET GROUP
(a) Local and foreign travelers (From Scandinavia, Germany, Benelux, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Estonia, etc.) – Active tourism agencies.
(b) Operators operating in the field of tourism and other tour operators
(c) Local authorities
(d) Non-governmental sector representatives, incl. organizations, hobby groups

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD
1. February 2017 – 31. January 2020

PROJECT FINANCING
EUR 1 089737,80 (incl. EUR 926 277,13 from the European Regional Development Fund)

PROJECT PARTNERS
The Project is implemented by the Lead Partner – Latvian country tourism association “Lauku ceļotājs”  (Country Traveler)in cooperation with 7 partners from Latvia and Estonia:

MAIN ACTIVITIES
The project will be implemented through the following key activities:
  • project launching conference and info seminars to trigger awareness in all stakeholder levels,
  • gaining experience and synchronizing with hiking trails in Europe to ensure professional quality of the trail,
  • developing visual identity and marking rules/guideline of the route to achieve the Coastal Hiking route recognition,
  • marking the route in nature with final approvals of its location and information infrastructure from all relevant land owners, building authorities, nature protection authorities, municipalities as well as all involved local stakeholders,
  • investments in improvement of the route conditions for hikers like resting places, paths, information stands and other facilities,
  • technical route information: taking GPX coordinates, collecting information for route description, preparation of maps to produce tourist information and support route marketing,
  • digital visualization of the route and presentation in the web for information accessibility,
  • cross-border network building activities, including network exchange visits, stakeholder handbook, stakeholder workshops to support the route management and maintenance,
  • route testing to find and implement drawbacks and necessary improvements,
  • production of the Coastal Hiking route marketing materials: the guidebook, tourist brochure and map “Hiking along the Baltic Sea cost” (Estonia, Latvia), the calendar of coastal public events for 2018 with updates to 2019, 2020, tour operator manual,
  • promotion in social media and press,
  • targeted marketing to ramblers and hikers organizations in Europe,
  • participation in travel fairs and exhibitions,
  • promotional videos and public hiking events,
  • project final conference to celebrate the Coastal Hiking route implementation and disseminate experience.
EXPECTED PROJECT RESULTS
Within the project framework, by involving local communities, municipalities and entrepreneurs, following activities will be carried out:
  • the whole route will be inspected;
  • the visual identity of the route will be developed;
  • guidelines for route marking will be issued;
  • the route will be physically marked in nature;
  • information stands and direction signs will be put up;
  • coastal electronic event calendar will be created;
  • guidelines for entrepreneurs “Service provision for hikers” will be issued;
  • a guidebook, a coastal tourism map and a handbook for tour operators will be published and distributed;
  • a home page of the route, as well as profiles in social networks and other marketing related activities will be carried out.

The above reflects author’s views and the Managing Authority of Estonia-Latvia Programme is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained there in.

LINKS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Kurzeme Planning Region:
Aiga Petkaevica
T .: 29483674, 28650278, aiga.petkevica@kurzemesregions.lv
Aija Neilande
T .: 26147139, aija.neilande@kurzemesregions.lv

Project page on Facebook – www.facebook.com/estlathiking/
Estonian-Latvian Cooperation Program website www.estlat.euwww.europa.eu