Sectors	Regional and territorial cooperation
EU Acquis Chapters	Other issues
EU funds	117 954 €
Implementation period	2011 - 2024
Categories	Gender ;  Climate action ;  Digital ;  Civil society (Mouse hover to see significance)

The project proposes to diversify the tourism offer in general in selected areas of Vranica (BiH) and Rajac (Serbia) by supporting family scale and community projects. The activities are designed to support regional exchanges in the Western Balkans for local communities to share their economical initiatives and comparative advantages. The support to better professionalization in rural tourism sector will be ensured by creating regional networks to have a better representation and access to market at a EU level.

During 24 months of implementation the project strived to unite the scattered rural tourism initiatives through identifying the existing businesses and stakeholders and organize them into a coherent tourist product. These efforts, classified into three groups of activities: 1) small tourist infrastructure and equipment, 2) capacity building of different stakeholders and 3) promotional and networking activities. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 7 tracking trails in total length of 100 km in Vranica area were marked with mountaineering signalization; 5 information panels and small scale inventory including 3 tables, 30 benches and 50 signposts were installed along the trails. Two cycling trails were marked in total length of 30 km. This will increase the safety of the cyclists and enrich tourism offer in the area. Two thematic routes were created in Fojnica and Kreševo 7 producers and 2 small family restaurants from Fojnica and Kreševo who offer traditional gastronomy and homemade specialities were promoted in “A mouthful of health” brochure. 8 cultural and religious monuments were promoted in “Bosnian soul and spirit” brochure. Both brochures (3800 copies) were promoted on 3 tourism fairs the offer was further improved by inclusion of a traditional blacksmith in Kreševo which had been reconstructed by the project, as well as by increasing capacities of the Vranica mountaineering association (Fojnica) by provision of safety equipment for climbers. The project contributed to strengthening the competitiveness of the rural tourism actors in both territories by improving their professional skills. Through thematic trainings on B&B management environmental aspects of tourism, traditional gastronomy in rural tourism and a study visit, rural tourism providers enhanced their knowledge and adopted new marketing and ICT tools, including a joint blog in the English language http://vranicarajac.wordpress.com/. These coordinated efforts on enhancement of the capacities and infrastructure resulted in establishment of new tourist offers: One day package tour created for local tourist offer in Ljig area and Fojnica respectively; two joint package tours created for 3-day and 5-day stays (including visit to Rajac and Ljig in Serbia, and Visegrad, Sarajevo and Fojnica in Central Bosnia). These package tours (1, 3 and 5 days) are available today at the Seoski Turizam Srbije and LTO Ljig website while the project established the web page www.alterural.ba to promote rural tourism in BiH.