The Workshop “Guidelines for Rural Tourism Development” was held in Zajecar, Eastern Serbia on 12 -14 June, 2012 as part of the project “Meeting of EU Standards through Rural Tourism Development in Timok Region”, financed by the CEI within the Know-how Exchange Programme - KEP AUSTRIA.
The goal of the workshop was to identify perspectives and challenges for rural tourism development in the Timok region (the region of Eastern Serbia, Zajecar) and identify how to address them through the Regional strategy for rural tourism development in the Timok Region. Ideas and proposals were presented and discussed by members of the regional expert group for rural tourism, created within the project and composed of representatives of local municipalities, local tourist organizations, tourist service providers, national authorities and associated experts. The overall project implementation (including the workshop) is led by the Carpathian Development Institute (Kosice, Slovakia) in close cooperation with the Regional Development Agency Eastern Serbia – RARIS (Zajecar, Serbia). The project “Meeting of EU Standards through Rural Tourism Development in Timok Region” aims at creating the conditions for development of rural tourism in compliance with EU trends and standards in order to bring about income generating activities and employment opportunities to the marginalized Timok Region. In order to achieve these project objectives, a strategic and institutional framework for rural tourism development will be created and human capacities of public authorities and tourist service providers will be strengthened. The total value of the project amounts to 52.540 EUR, with a CEI contribution of 23.000 EUR provided by the Austrian Development Cooperation though the CEI - KEP AUSTRIA. More information available here.