Bringing Together Partners from Ukraine, Turkey and Georgia for Sustainable Destination Management
Expert Team at TrainingAid
New Ecotourism Opportunities in the Black Sea Region
The TrainingAid team is excited to be part of the Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Program, focusing on the development of the Program’s dedicated web-portal for destinations and travelers. The web-portal will feature the region's interconnected multicultural experiences, ecological diversity and history spanning thousands of years. The project aims not just to expand a sector, but to open up new opportunities for rural communities through ecotourism and preserving the cultural heritage and environment of the region. As part of this process, Ferdinand Weps (managing partner, TrainingAid) joined the member's meeting of the Program in Ukraine.
Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Program
The Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Program is an integrated rural tourism initiative focused on the sustainable development of rural and community tourism in the Black Sea Region.
The program, which is led by the international advisory firm Vesselka Consulting Ltd., currently collaborates with draws members from Ukraine, Turkey and Georgia, with the goal of unifying rural communities and destinations in the region under a single brand and visual banner reflecting common standards, values and interests regarding sustainable tourism and contributing to the economic, cultural and social developments of participating communities. The new website will play a key role in supporting this goal and in engaging tourism stakeholders in the region.
>> Learn more about the Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism Program here.
First Member Meeting, Ukraine, June 11-14, 2015
Vesselka Consulting Ltd., in partnership with WWF-Turkey, has announced the first Member’s Meeting of the Black Sea Sustainable Rural Tourism to be held in the town of Hola Pristan in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine from June 11-14. The meeting is sponsored by Danone Ukraine, whose Small Family Farm projects in Ukraine help develop small rural farms sustainably. Members representing destination operators and NGOs, along with government officials from Turkey and Ukraine, will take part in the meeting.
Hola Pristan is located on a tributary of the Dnipro River a short distance before it empties into an estuary formed with the Lower Bug river on the Black Sea. The wetlands and estuary form an important eco-system for this region of Kherson Oblast and is an ancient trade gateway known as the Amber Road running from the Baltic to Constantinople. The Member's Meeting will be an annual event built around year round workshops and experiential exchanges among the membership.