The third Interregional Learning Event took place on 18-19th April 2018 in Riga, Latvia, hosted by the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia .
The theme of the event was "Innovation of the tourism offer by clustering the tourism SME’s and products”.
The first day of the event included a half-day public thematic workshop to present the partners' Good Practices (GPs), as well as a Lecture/presentation on tourism product development through clusters. Then, a restricted focus group was held by the project partners only, in order to to evaluate and discuss the GPs. The focus group deepened the analysis through highly interactive sessions where each GP was separately reviewed. The relevance of the GPs was assessed according to several criteria such as their level of innovativeness, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and transferability.
To consolidate learning, the event was complemented on the 18th and 19th April afternoon with several study visits to get to know some of the proposed Latvia's GPs. During the first study visit, the Riga Tourism Development Bureau (LIVE RIGA) about the collaboration with tourism cluster ENTER Gauja in gastronomic tourism was presented, followed by a guided tour around Riga city. Later, the partners visited the Valmiermuiza - cluster for local beer- factory/restaurant, where they met a representative of Valmiermuiza who talked about their experience as a cluster member.
At the second day, the partners visited "Entergauja tourism cluster" in Sigulda. They were transferred to Sigulda, where they visited Krimulda manor followed by presentations of the cluster and their members. Later, they visited Krimulda vinery, where they met a cluster member. The study visit continued with a short hike to Sigulda Livonian castle and a visit at the ancient jewellery mastery of the Balts in Sigulda castle, where the partners met a member of the cluster. After the study visit, the project partners returned to Riga.
See more from the event at: https://www.interregeurope.eu/brandtour/library/#folder=1341