Latvia's Cape Kolka, already a popular destination spot, could become a showcase for the country's ambition to become a leader in “green” tourism.
Every year, the cape and the surrounding Slitere National Park draw thousands of travellers. They come to the area - about 200 kilometres from the capital Riga - in hopes of catching a glimpse of the strange “cross-wave” formations that are created where the Baltic Sea meets the Gulf of Riga.
Tour agencies and the government are seeking to maintain the unspoiled character of this and other parts of Latvia while attracting even more visitors. Such ecotourism could help cultivate the green shoots of an economic recovery in the financially troubled country.
One of the curious legacies of the Soviet era in the Baltic region was the inadvertent preservation of wilderness. Border and military zones were out of bounds, and as a result areas such as Slitere have retained a pristine character.
“This was a strictly restricted zone. Soviet border guards would rake the sand here every night to reveal any footprints,” says Janis Dambitis, an enthusiastic official guide to Slitere.
He leads a recent visitor over boardwalks through pristine pine forest, pointing out rare plants along the way.
Until recently, restricted access during Communist times meant that Slitere lacked the infrastructure to minimize the impact of increasing tourist numbers.
That has changed with a program spearheaded by a tourism group to provide such facilities as a car park, an information centre and multilingual signs in Latvian, English and Livonian.
The Livs, Europe's smallest indigenous ethnic group, live in a few small coastal villages in Latvia. They add a cultural element to the long list of plant and bird species under protection in the national park.
“Do we want tourism in protected areas?” asks Asnate Ziemle, president of the Latvian country tourism association Lauku Celotajs, which has led the Slitere initiative.
“How do we want it? Is economic development as important in protected areas as in any other area?”
Ziemele organized a conference on March 22-23 to discuss such questions, bringing together both those responsible for nature protection and tourism industry representatives from 19 countries. She says cooperation between environmentalists and businesspeople can be mutually beneficial.
“Even in older countries it is rare for tourism and nature protection to sit around the same table. Usually in the audience there is one or the other. So the success of this event is that the audience is half and half,” Ziemele told the German Press Agency dpa.
Some low-cost measures - such as the multilingual signs at Slitere - can make a big difference, says Richard Partington of British-based Europarc Consulting. He is compiling a “how-to” guide for Europarc Federation, the pan-European organization for protected areas.
“A lot of the time interesting things are done in the field, but no-one sings the praises of or analyzes what are often simple but effective techniques,” he says.
By offering information about local services and accommodations, nature preserves can draw more visitors and aid the local economy, he says.
Boosting green tourism can also have an effect on the mainstream tourism industry, says Armands Slokenbergs, director of the Latvian Tourism Development Agency.
He credits a rise last year in overnight visitors in Latvia to efforts to broaden the appeal of ecotourism. He hopes the trend will continue.
One strategy, known as “Riga Plus,” is to get visitors to the capital to set outside of Riga for at least one day.
“If you want to develop good quality products you need to specialize,” he says. “We aim to have two strong brands with Latvia a holiday product based on nature, while Riga is based more on city break experiences. It's a viable way.” - Sapa-dpa