This fall, the Vidzeme planning region started implementing the project “Facilitating access to water tourism activities” (Riverways II). Its main task is to identify water tourism places and products and to improve their accessibility, thus giving opportunities for seniors, families with small children, people with disabilities, and other groups of society to get involved in water tourism activities.
The partners, within the framework of the project, will improve the infrastructure of 4 swimming places in the territory of the Vidzeme planning region, supplement the offer of water tourism routes, and organize training for local water tourism service providers. People of the Region will have the opportunity to participate in several sports and recreational events, which will be organized within the project, to encourage people to choose water tourism as one of the options for active recreation and to practically show that this type of recreation is available to almost everyone.
Within the framework of the project, there will be a series of other activities essential for tourism development: survey water tourism places and identify water tourism products, develop routes, prepare a guide, and supplement the websites upesoga.lv and mapeirons.lv.
Investments are also planned in infrastructure development, improving swimming areas and piers and providing them with convenient and unhindered access, which is also suitable for seniors, people with special needs, and families with small children. The goal is to find and apply innovative and sustainable solutions to make water tourism more accessible to everyone while limiting and reducing human impact on the surrounding environment.
21 partners from Latvia and Estonia are involved in the Riverways II project – regional partners (Kurzeme Planning Region, Riga Planning Region, Vidzeme Planning Region, Pärnu College of Tartu University, and Southern Estonia Tourism Cluster) and 16 municipalities (11 Latvian, 5 Estonian) will cooperate within the project. The project’s leading partner is the Kurzeme Planning Region.
“Riverways II” is a sequential continuation of the project, implemented from 2013 – 2015, in which the Vidzeme planning region was also involved.
On September 23 – 24, the first meeting of partners was held in Kuldīga. The participants agreed that it is necessary to look at environmental improvement works in a complex way, improving and making accessible to everyone not only the pier or swimming area itself but also the road or path to it. The partners also shared ideas and solutions for making these recreation facilities near the water accessible and easy for people with special needs. It was concluded that large investments are not always necessary – often, the required effect can be achieved with relatively simple and small changes.
During the meeting, the partners also outlined the work plan for the coming months. One of the tasks is environmental accessibility surveys of water tourism places and services, which will be carried out in cooperation with environmental accessibility experts.
Zelma Mičule, head of the Riverways II project in the Vidzeme planning region, emphasizes the opportunities provided by this activity to identify and highlight the wealth of water bodies and waterways in the territory of the Vidzeme planning region. Z. Mičule says: “The counties of the Vidzeme planning region are really rich in water – we have not only Latvia’s longest river Gauja and other well-known navigable rivers, such as Brasla, Salaca, Aiviekste, and Amata, but also magnificent lakes: the largest lake in Latvia, Lubāns, Burtnieks, Alauksts, Inesis, Ungurs and Alūksne lake. However, we also have a lot of smaller rivers and lakes, which we want to put on the map of water tourism routes, offering new tourist destinations and enriching the traveler’s experience. We hope the survey will allow us to identify new, not widely known, beautiful, and accessible recreational places near the water for the general public.”
Additional information: Zelma Micule, manager of the project “Facilitating access to water tourism activities” (Riverways II) in the Vidzeme planning region, zelma.micule@vidzeme.lv, +371 28327962.
Written by: Liene Pelēkzirne, Vidzeme planning region.
Photos: Kurzeme planning region
