I would like to tell you about the exciting experience I have gained by participating in volunteer work through the Interreg project “Innovative Solutions for the Rural Food Production Sector to Diversity into Sustainable Culinary tourism services – BASCIL”. Before I accepted participation in the project, I had already heard something about such projects in my neighbourhood, but I didn’t really know how they work and how you can apply for your participation.

This summer I was honoured to participate in this Interreg project and develop my existing skills as well as gain new experiences. During 3 months, I have met knowledgeable, experienced, hardworking and country-loving people from the Latvian country tourism association “Lauku Celotajs”. Before I met these people, I had no in-depth knowledge of the tourism industry, but now I have an idea of how projects can be implemented in the tourism industry. It was also a great pleasure to work in such a good team, where I could turn to for help and advice. I learned more about systems where you can develop websites. I also broadened my horizons regarding the articles of the tourism press release, so that I could interest more and more foreign guests in visiting our beautiful land – Latvia.

Mainly, I was entrusted with communication with tourism entrepreneurs, providing them with all the necessary information about this year’s tourism events, which were implemented by the association “Lauku Celotajs”. I not only informed about the events, but also invited to participate in them.

This year, I found out that “Home Cafe Days” are being held in Latvia for the third year. Home cafe days are an events where not only professional catering entrepreneurs can participate, but also ordinary households who live outside the city daily. The main goal of the event was that every householder could assume the role of the manager of his “cafe”. For someone it was an opportunity to realize their dream for at least two days, but for others it was an opportunity to rethink their life plan and maybe open their own, real cafe in the future.

Also, one of the goals of the event was to attract visitors from neighbouring countries, sharing their traditional flavours that cannot be tasted outside of Latvia. I had the honour to be a part of such an event by accepting and processing the participant questionnaires. I also apply my knowledge to improving the descriptions of home cafes.

If I ever had another opportunity to participate in this type of project, I would apply. As I mentioned earlier, this type of project allows you to expand your horizons and knowledge. These are new meetings and unforgettable experiences. Many thanks to the project partners and the team of the “Lauku Celotajs” for allowing me to apply my existing knowledge in a completely new industry. 

Also, thank you for being able to make my contribution to the development of tourism. I recommend everyone to get involved and use the opportunities of such projects!

– Edīte M., IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project “BASCIL”, at the Latvian country tourism association Lauku Celotajs

@photo canva stock