Good practice:

Museums and local history centres promote and integrate fishing cultural heritage into tourism

Carnikava Municipality with 8700 inhabitants located on the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic sea has established and finances Local History Centre (Centre) since 2010. The aim of Centre is to keep and promote rich coastal fishing cultural heritage and traditions – historic trade of the local community. The center has multiple functions: it keeps history and fishing traditions museum, carries out research of history of local municipality, implements different eduactional programms for local community involving all age groups, younger generation including. It is also a venue for events and gatherings for inhabitants, weddings, workshops and other activities. The museum also keeps contacts and interacts with similar museums aiming at experience exchange and development as well as is involved in different EU projects related to protection and promotion local cultural heritage, coastal fishing tradition including. In its activities the Centre involves local fishermen and community and uses historic trade of lamprey catching and cooking knowledge to implement events and create tourism products and activities. The Centre is a key element on creating activities for attracting tourists and building marketing of municipality to visitors based on the coaslta fishing heritage. Main stakeholders are museum specialists, development and tourism specialists, culture event organizers, fishermen and their families, tourists, local entrepreneurs (processing, souvenirs).

Indicative costs per year based on the scope of activities: 60 000 EUR (running costs). Development funding comes from EU funding and is attracted in open competition from various sources.

Over 10 years of operation the Carnikava Local History Center has become a remarkable tourism and cultural heritage centre with an ever-increasing number of visitors. (528 visitors in 2018, 6287 visitors in 2019).
http://kultura.carnikava.lv/novadpetniecibas-centrs
Actively participates in organizing Lamprey festival in August, 2019 (more than 10 000 visitors in 2019).
Actively participates in development and transfer of know-how of coastal museums in Riga region.

Securing financial resources for day-to-day operations (solved with Carnikava Municipality annual funding). Attracting resources for development: increasing attractiveness of exposition, digital marketing, community involvement. Depends on dedicated and qualified staff recognized by local community.

The success story of Carnikava Local History is based on the fact that the centre is multifunctional. Besides historic research and keeping historic exposition, it also involves into tourism promotion and cultural activities, it is democratic and brings together different groups of the society and fishing community in educational and cultural activities.
The centre keeps close links with municipality, cooperates in building the identity of the coastal municipality, involves in organization of annual Lamprey festival, encourages local tourism agents to create news services and products related Lamprey fishing and cooking tradition.
Funding for day to day operations is secured by the support of local municipality, however, for development of activities, modernization of activities and building interaction with target groups require constant update of communication channels, more wider use of digitalization and social networks, creating on-line education and information content.