Completion of the project “Rural green tourism – from disconnected estates to territorial clusters”

In September 2017, the NGO “Association for the Promotion of the Development of Rural Green Tourism in Ukraine” began work on the implementation of the six-month project “Rural Green Tourism – from disconnected homesteads to territorial clusters” with the support of the “Agrarian and Rural Development Support Program” project (“Agro-Rural Development” ), which is financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the UNDP project in Ukraine “Strengthening business associations of small and medium-sized enterprises”, which is implemented with the financial support of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

The goal of the project was to create a favorable regulatory and legal framework for the involvement of the rural population in the provision of rural green tourism services as one of the family-type management models and to improve the professional training system for workers and specialists in the field of rural green tourism. 

Even before the start of the project implementation, the Union defined the main tasks of its activities for the nearest period, which were:

● creation of a favorable legal field for the involvement of the rural population in the provision of rural green tourism services without registering them as subjects of entrepreneurial activity and ensuring preferential income taxation;

● creation of a platform for communications and feedback, informing and explaining to OSG and SFG owners their rights and responsibilities in providing rural green tourism services, as well as providing legal and informational protection to providers and recipients of these services;

● modernization and improvement of the voluntary categorization program “Ukrainian Hospitality Homestead” as a system of internal quality control of services in the field of rural green tourism, formation of an all-Ukrainian network of categorized homesteads;

● development of a rural green tourism cluster model;

● improvement of the professional system of training and retraining of workers and specialists in the field of rural green tourism.

In general, the implementation of the project “Rural green tourism – from disconnected homesteads to territorial clusters” took place in four stages:

1. Legislative work and preparatory work on cluster modeling and categorization in the field of rural green tourism and updating the site.  

2. Development of amendments to draft laws, cluster modeling, updating of the “Ukrainian Hospitality Estate” categorization program. 

3. Legal support of activity and protection of OSG and SFG owners, cluster modeling.

4. Improvement of educational programs for the training of specialists in the field of rural tourism, dissemination of project implementation experience.

During the implementation of the project, the Union team worked actively and fruitfully to achieve the set goals. So, over the past six months, the Association for the Promotion of the Development of Rural Green Tourism in Ukraine was:

• An analysis of the proposed proposals for the second reading of draft law No. 2232а “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Personal Peasant Farming” regarding the development of rural green tourism” was carried out, which was adopted in the first reading on May 23, 2017; a map of the lobbying company was formed regarding the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of draft law No. 2232а in the second reading, and communications were conducted with people’s deputies, representatives of central and local authorities, territorial communities, other interested parties, and mass media regarding the adoption of law No. 2232а in the second reading.

• An initiative group was created around the cluster idea of ​​the development of rural green tourism in Ukraine, the principles and vision of the formation of the cluster model were developed, the key participants (stakeholders) of the cluster were systematized, and on  October 24, 2017,  a constituent meeting was held in Skole, Lviv region, on the creation of the first cluster of rural tourism in Skoliv mountain area with the involvement of owners of agricultural estates, accommodation and food establishments in rural areas, local entrepreneurs, folk craftsmen, public organizations and local self-government bodies.

• An analysis of legal acts was carried out in order to improve the categorization program “Ukrainian Hospitality Farm” and an analysis of a similar categorization program in the Republic of Poland was carried out in order to borrow the experience of neighboring countries.

• An analysis of the legislation on income taxation of OSG and SFG owners that provide rural green tourism services was carried out; the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine on Taxation of Services Provided in the Field of Rural Green Tourism” was developed and registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; a map of the lobbying company regarding this draft law was formed and communications were carried out with people’s deputies, representatives of central and local authorities, territorial communities, other interested parties and mass media regarding the adoption of this law.

• The passport of the cluster of rural green tourism was prepared and on  December 7, 2017  , a strategic session of the ethnographic and ecological cluster of rural tourism of the Skoliv mountain district “Boykivski gazdy” was held in Skole, Lviv region.

• An analysis of the regulation on the categorization of rural green tourism estates “Ukrainian Hospitality Estate” was carried out, a system of monitoring and control over compliance with the requirements of the Categorization Program was developed, as well as appropriate changes were made to the Categorization Program and work was carried out to form a network of categorized estates in Ukraine.

• Held  on October 5, 2017,  as part of the 24th International Tourism Salon “Ukraine” – UITM’2017, the seminar “Categorization in the field of rural green tourism: compliance with EU standards and requirements, ways of updating”, the purpose of which is to deepen knowledge about the organization of categorization in the field of rural green tourism under the “Ukrainian Hospitable Homestead” program, focusing attention on problems and modeling the standard of the Union of Northwest Ukraine (SOU), which will contain requirements for voluntary categorization as a system of internal quality control in the field of rural tourism.

•  On November 24, 2017,  the seminar “Opportunities and risks of the development of rural green tourism” was held for the Public Council of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the working group of the Ministry of Rural Development of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and interested parties, the purpose of which is to deepen knowledge about the state, opportunities and risks of the development of rural green tourism.

•  On November 8, 2017,  as part of the 14th International Agro-Industrial Exhibition AGROFORUM 2017, the seminar “Basics of knowledge on the provision of hospitality by personal peasant farms and farms” was held with the aim of deepening knowledge about the basics of rural green tourism activities, the rights and obligations of members of personal peasant farms and family farms in the provision of NWT services, familiarization with the foreign experience of organizing rural tourism.

• Prepared recommendations for the owners of OSH and SFG regarding the provision of rural green tourism services and the corresponding draft of the order of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine “On the approval of “Recommendations to the owner of a personal peasant and family farm regarding the provision of rural green tourism services”.

•  On February 14, 2018, a round table was held  in Kyiv  on the improvement of training programs for workers and specialists in the field of rural green tourism  with the participation of representatives of leading educational institutions and scientific institutions that deal with development issues or have experience in teaching disciplines from the course of the organization of rural green tourism. Done analysis of special training programs for owners of OSG and SFG and specialists in the field of rural green tourism and prepared proposals to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine regarding the improvement of training programs for owners of OSG and SFG and specialists in the field of rural green tourism.

• The Union’s information portal www.greentour.com.ua has been launched for communication, dissemination of information and feedback between Union members, owners of rural tourism estates and other interested parties.

•  On March 1, 2018,  the final conference  “Modern challenges for rural green tourism of Ukraine: legal, educational, organizational and market aspects” was held  with the participation of more than 100 participants from 21 regions of Ukraine – representatives of the authorities, mass media, public organizations, educational institutions, owners of estates and enterprises interested in the development of rural green tourism in Ukraine. The purpose of the conference was to sum up the results of the project implementation and discuss among the circle of interested persons the most debatable issues related to the current state, problems and prospects of the development of rural green tourism in Ukraine.

 • Prepared and published the brochure “Rural green tourism – from separated homesteads to territorial clusters”.

The union hopes that the work carried out on the implementation of the project “Rural green tourism – from disconnected homesteads to territorial clusters” in the long term will contribute to:

– development of the Union of the Northwest Territories of Ukraine: formation of a team of specialists to conduct analysis of existing and development of new regulatory and legal acts, their lobbying;

– improvement and simplification of the categorization procedure in the field of rural green tourism; maintaining “old” and attracting new members of the Union; improving the image of the Union of Northwest Territories of Ukraine; determining its appropriate role in the market and in relations with authorities;

– creation of a favorable legal field for solving the problem of employment in rural areas;

– expansion of agricultural products sales markets;

– improving the wealth of rural families;

– development of small businesses providing various services to vacationers;

– development of rural infrastructure;

– activation of activities of rural communities;

– ensuring the revival and preservation of cultural heritage;

– popularization of Ukrainian culture, preservation and protection of rural landscapes.