Regional Cooperation Council launches project for tourism development in the Western Balkans

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) officially marked the beginning of a three-year project dedicated to the development and promotion of tourism in the Western Balkans in Sarajevo today.

The project will help the six Western Balkan economies expand and unite cultural and adventure tourism products, create and promote a joint offer that would be competitive on the world market and generate additional revenue and new jobs.

The Regional Cooperation Council's tourism development and promotion project is the result of priorities identified by the region's governments and the Council's efforts to bring these priorities to life in practice, in order to contribute to economic growth, employment, and the region's competitiveness.

- For those of us living in the region, it is well known that our rich natural potentials and cultural heritage are underutilized. The six Western Balkan economies have prioritized the use of tourism as a promising sector for economic growth. The Regional Cooperation Council supports them in their efforts to leverage the region's beauty and culture and open it up to the world - said the organization's Secretary General Goran Svilanović.

This project is a novelty in the Council's work, as it represents a shift in our activities from policy development to engagement in targeted sectors, in order to prove that the Regional Economic Area has much to offer both the region and our future guests, lovers of adventure and cultural tourism.

Over the next three years, this Council project will award up to 30 small grants, each worth around EUR 50,000, with the aim of improving infrastructure related to cultural and adventure tourism routes, and the first calls for participation in the grant program will be published in mid-July this year.

The project is worth EUR 5 million and is funded by the European Union (EU), and will be implemented by the Regional Cooperation Council and its project team over the next three years.

Andrea Vera from the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed satisfaction with the launch of the Project for the Development and Promotion of Tourism in the Western Balkans, adding that the project aligns with the EU's strategy for the Western Balkans, as well as the implementation of the Multi-annual Action Plan for Regional Economic Area (MAP REA).

- I am happy to be able to support this project here, in the Sarajevo City Hall, as this beautiful building was renovated with EU funds. The region has a lot to offer – numerous tourist sites, cultural crossroads, and many adventures. However, not all are easily accessible, which is precisely what this project aims to achieve – to create regional tourist routes with better infrastructure.

The project will involve identifying the most sustainable joint cultural and adventure tourism routes, developing them through a grant program aimed at improving infrastructure and service quality along these routes, and globally promoting the joint regional tourism offer and attractions.

Project activities will be carried out in cooperation with governments and the private and non-governmental sectors in the six Western Balkan economies to attract more tourists, extend their stays in the region, and increase revenue and employment in this industrial branch.

The day before the presentation of the tourism project, the Working Group of the Regional Cooperation Council for Western Balkan Tourism met.

The Working Group brings together representatives of ministries responsible for tourism, tourism boards, and the private sector, who discussed and identified the most sustainable joint regional tourist routes that will be prepared and promoted under the joint regional brand "Western Balkans – Crossroads of Civilizations".