05.12.08

On December 5, 2008, nearly 30 members and stakeholders of the Kamchatka Ecotourism Society gathered for a round table discussion and work session titled:  “Ecotourism on Kamchatka:  Development through Quality” at the Kamchatka Krai Krasheninnikov Science Library. 
Supported by a grant from the UNDP/GEF Project “Demonstrating Sustainable Conservation of Biological Diversity in Four Protected Areas of Russia’s Kamchatka Oblast” , the day began with several presentations on subjects including:  The Kamchatka Visitor Survey, gathering of Best Practices in ecotourism on Kamchatka, Sport fishing and tourism:  best practices, and the recently released Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria.  The second half of the day was dedicated to a lively discussion of the need for, possible mechanisms, and creation of a volunteer working group to establish a working plan for developing a voluntary system of certification for Kamchatka’s tourism industry. 
All participants in the program received a booklet printed recognizing 11 organizations from special protected areas, hotels and accommodations, tour operators and agencies, ethno-ecological centers, and tourism service providers who conducted a self analysis under the KES’s criteria for meeting the society’s 6 principles of ecotourism.  An attractive logo for the Best Practices program was designed by KES member Galina Volgina and organizations that presented outstanding examples now have the right to use this logo in their advertisements for 2009.  In the last quarter of 2009, the KES will again invite Kamchatka’s tourism industry to demonstrate their best practices in Kamchatka ecotourism by participating in this voluntary self analysis. 

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