EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Tourism

22 European countries received awards and presented their tourism destinations during special exhibition, reports BC the Latvian Institute.

Latvia’s stand attracted the attention of visitors with its magnificent design based on nature motifs. Günter Verheugen, Vice – President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, appreciated the Tērvete Country Park not only from a tourism point of view, but also because of the environmental education it offered to Latvia’s schools.

The EDEN project is orientated towards safe, beautiful and undiscovered places in Europe to visit, invest and live in. The European Commission in cooperation with respective tourism boards in Member States each year selects different themes and one destination from participating countries. This year’s theme is sustainable tourism in protected nature territories.

Previous winners from Latvia have included Kuldīga City for the uniquness of its old town and Rēzekne City for Latgalian region pottery traditions.

Tērvete Country Park is one of the most suitable places for families with kids and those who are still able to view the world through kids’ eyes, believing in fairy tales and seeing wonders. This place also tells stories about mightiness of the ancient Zemgallian tribes through 3 long-standing hill forts. In the park one will also encounter characters from fairy tales and plays by Latvian writer Anna Brigadere – Sprīdītis (Tom Thumb) un Lutausis, Forest king and his court, little girl Annele with friends and members of the friendly dwarf family.