European Commission has drawn forward tourism development as one of the priority fields for stabilisation of economics in Europe. Correct and well-balanced development of a tourism location is the guaranty for economic development, social welfare and ecological stability. EDEN project is one of the means, with which the territories can assess and put in order he tourism development processes, which, unlike the other sectors, are complicated, multi-level and involving many different service providers.
Best projects are selected every year in almost every EU Member State according to its theme since 2007, when EDEN project was initiated. The themes have been related with different tourism resources. E.g., tourism in rural territories, non-material heritage, protected natural territories, etc. A network of tourism destinations has developed in these years, where something interesting and informative can be found in every tourism location.
Project applications are assessed by especially established commission, which includes the representatives of the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia and tourism associations from all four Latvian regions, who will select the most suitable application pursuant to criteria recommended by EC and assess the other applications according to the number of obtained points. In addition to the winner, also the other four best applications will be involved in the activities for popularization of EDEN project, thus ensuring their recognisability.
EDEN project is an initiative of EC for advancing the recognisability of prospective tourism locations and development of sustainable tourism in Europe, popularizing the best examples of tourism development and promoting collaboration amongst the tourism destinations.
Kuldīga was the winner in 2007, Rēzekne District – in 2008, Tērvete Nature Park – in 2009, and Jūrmala – in 2010.
Especially for EDEN projects the European Commission created the home pages www.edenineurope.eu and www.eden.latvia.travel.
