Over the third period (May 2018 – October 2018) the work on all four project components has continued – project management, communication, infrastructure development activities and competence raising and marketing.
Under the infrastructure development activities in Kurzeme, active work on the construction of the watching tower and the resting area at Durbe lake has continued and the construction of the wooden boardwalk along the coast of Usma lake and the trail along Venta river in Kuldīga have commenced. The work is planned to be finished already this year.
Under the infrastructure development activities in Lithuania, the work on the the improvement of Jaurykla park in Kretinga and the building of wooden boardwalks and pontoon bridges at Kirkilai karstic lakes in Biržai Regional Park have continued. Construction of pontoon piers at Aukštaitija National Park has started and over the third period the first of the four piers planned has already been installed in Palūše – the capitol of the park, which is the starting point for the most impotrant tourist routes through the lakes and rivers of Aukštaitija. The pier is located on the coast of Lušiai lake and it is adapted for people with disabilities.
Under the competence raising and marketing measures, Lithuanina specialists from nature parks and municipalities visited Kurzeme on an experience exchange trip. Training of nature guides of Kurzeme Region continued with helding already the fifth training session, the topic of which was nature interpretation to children and youth. The final, sixth session, will take place in November, at the end of which all guides that have successfully graduated the courses will receive the certificates. On the LT side, the guides have already finished the training in the beginning of the season, receiving 15 guides’ certificates.
Over this period, Kurzeme Planning Region, in cooperation with organisation “Apeirons” developed the Guidelines to adapt the tourism infrastructure, products and services to people with disabilities, which provide for simple and meaningful recommendations to the tourism industry, nature parks and municipalities on how to ensure the overall access to the trail or nature object itself (appropriate paths, pavement, inclination angle etc.), improve accessibility to resting areas and parking lots, watching towers, accommodation, WC and shower rooms, websites, as well as the key principles to be followed when communicating with a disabled person. At the end of the period our partner – Administration of Žemaitija National Park – produced special postcards that provide both, tactile information and information in Braille script on the park. The postcards are adapted to people with visual impairment, allowing them to palpate the landscape of the park and read the description of the pictures.
In addition, during the summer season, we were actively inspecting all the nature trails in Kurzeme, by fixing the key trail parameters (distance, difficulty level, marking etc.), recording the routes in GXP format in order to disseminate information on international hiking apps and websites and to gather information for the Nature Trails’ Travel Guide, which is going to be produced at the end of the project.
Project activities are being implemented with the support of the Interreg V-A Latvia-Lithuania Programme 2014-2020.
Meeting presentations:
Information prepared by:
Alise Lūse,
UniGreen Project Manager
Kurzeme Planning Region
Tel.: + 371 26567874,
alise.luse@kurzemesregions.lv
