The epidemiological situation has been affecting the lives of each of us in and is forcing us to change our way of working and lifestyle to varying degrees. The usual forms of spending free time and holidays have been shaken to their foundations, and instead of exotic destinations, the undiscovered attractions on our doorstep are are gaining a momentum.
Gems of Gemer – how to use the opportunities of local sustainable tourism? This question and many more were discussed at the workshop in Veľké Teriakovce on 27th October 2021. The workshop was organized by the State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic, the Administration of the Protected Landscape Area Cerová vrchovina and the NGO PRONATUR within the Interreg CE Centralparks project.
Representatives from different sectors such as local and regional authorities, local action groups, destination management organizations, administrations of protected areas and caves as well as other stakeholders came together to learn about the Centralparks project outputs, possibilities for networking and cooperation, as well as about future plans for the development of the nature- and culture-based local tourism in the Gemer region, located in the Western Carpathians. Participants discussed the resent outcomes of the qualitative visitor satisfaction survey carried out in the Protected Landscape Area Cerová vrchovina. The Education and Information Centre Bílé Karpaty, Centralparks project partner from Czechia, gave an enthusiastic interactive presentation of their experience with local guiding in the Bílé Karpaty, sparked a constructive discussion which brought up many stimulating ideas, questions and challenges of how to work together to create sustainable nature tourism in the Carpathians and specifically in Gemer. The participants expressed their interest in the next steps of implementation of the Local Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy in the Carpathians.
