Seven regions of the Vitebsk oblast represented almost 200 tourist facilities for participation in the Belarusian-Latvian tourist programme “Bella Dvina – traveling via borders, discovering culture, enjoying nature of Zapadnaya Dvina/Daugava region”, Olga Prokhorova, an expert of the project, representative of sport and tourism department of the Polotsk Town Executive Committee, told BelTA. The list of the tourist facilities includes not only monuments of history and culture but rural manors, hotels, cafes and even post offices with an internet access. According to Olga Prokhorova, full service is a necessary component to create a popular tourist product. Owing to the infrastructure set up in the regions, organizers of the project will create the boundary tourist area along the Zapadnaya Dvina - Daugava River between Daugavpils, Polotsk and Vitebsk and develop excursions “Region Bella-Dvina”. The strategy of the project will be developed by the Latgalia Regional Development Agency which has a great experience of such programmes in Latvia and abroad. The partnership agreement was signed during the conference “Development of tourism in Bella-Dvina region: national and boundary aspects”. In the project the Latvian side will be represented by six regions. The main goal of the project “Bella-Dvina – traveling via borders” is to create a boundary tourist area along the Zapadnaya Dvina-Daugava River between Daugavpils, Polotsk and Vitebsk. Apart from the towns, the project includes the Verkhnedvinsk, Rossony, Beshenkovichi, Miory, Sharkovschina, Polotsk and Vitebsk regions. The programme is expected to be carried out within two years. The project is co-financed under the auspices of the European Commission within the framework of the programme “Baltic Sea Region – INTERREG IIIB – Neighbourliness Programme IIIA – Priority Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus (South)”. The funds will be allocated for developing the tourist branch of the neighboring regions of Belarus and Latvia.

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