"Study tour to the Hungary, Slovak and Czech Republics, Germany and Austria", 11-26 May, 2014

The study tour was organized by the Machaon International in cooperation with main project partner NGO Sosna and associated partner Wallachian open-air museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm for four participants from Kazakhstan. These included employees of the regional coordinators NGOs EcoAltai, Boomerang and TEC and director of one of the pilot protected areas Western Altai Nature reserve.

The programme of the study tour was intense: the participants had multiple opportunities to know about management of eco and rural tourism in EU national parks, open-air museums as well as unique private examples of tourism development in remote villages.

The programme of the study tour included the visit to 2 open-air museums focused on the interpretation of folk culture, revival of cultural traditions, crafts support - Wallachian OAM  in Czech Republic and Skansen in Hungary, national parks which are successful in rural and eco-tourism development and promotion, and several villages in or near these parks - Slovensky Raj,  Muranska Planina and Slovensky Kras /Slovakia, Aggtelek/Hungary, Sumava /Czech Republic, Bavarian Forest - Germany, Donau-Auen/Austria, Ecocentre Sosna - near Kosice, Slovakia, Training Centre and Art-residence Machaon - near Poprad, Slovakia, Eco-centre and village community centres near Straznice, Czech Republic 

The most interesting part for participants was the opportunity to explore local tourism in rural areas  and to learn about how local residents buy out old and deterioriated buildings in order to convert them into guest-houses and small family hotels, to provide tourist services, guided excursions and to start small local businesses such as gastronomy and souvenir production, sheep wool processing, wood-carved sculptures etc. Special attention was paid to the development of eco-tourism infrastructure in 2 leading national park in Europe - Sumava and Bavarian Forest. Of great interest for the participants was the Czech experience with the organization of cultural events, festivals, crafts fairs and folklore programmes, which intricately link contemporary comforts for enjoyment of the public while helping to re-create and preserve forgotten traditional technologies, crafts and folk art as well as to reconstruct social life, business and leisure activities of our ancestors.

Special attention during the study-tour was given to  SMEs activities as key players in rural tourism (i.e. local farming and small hotels) and how special sheep, horses and caws breeds were introduced, so delicate rural landscape could have been restored and profitable meat, cheese and mealk production established. The participants of the study-tour had a chance to learn more about cultural traditions and preservation of the natural and cultural heritage of European countries.    

4 key project partners trained and enhanced capacity and skills  to organise tourism in remote rural regions. The study-tour enhanced the knowledge and allowed experience exchange between the Kazakh guests and EU host (especially of Eastern Europe which share the common history of the former Soviet Union). The study-tour provided useful inspiration and transfer of know-how to Kazakhstan, in particular in the sphere of the rural tourism and sustainable development.