Assessment of environmental aspects of rural tourism in two areas of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve, Latvia
2008
Druva-Druvaskalne, I., Vidzeme Univ. College, Valmiera (Latvia). Dept. of Tourism Organization and Management | Livina, A., Vidzeme Univ. College, Valmiera (Latvia). Dept. of Tourism Organization and Management
We studied environmental aspects of rural tourism in two lake areas of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve: the Limbazi lake group in Limbazi District and Lake Burtnieks in Valmiera District. We inspected 18 rural tourist accommodation facilities, performed structured interviews with tourist facility owners and used available statistics to analyse accommodation capacities, traveller density, access, existing infrastructure, quality labels and partnerships among accommodation owners. The greatest number of tourist (76% of all overnight visitors) was serviced in accommodations located within Natura 2000 sites. The maximum traveller density recorded was 35 persons/square km. Partnerships have been established by the accommodation managers in three areas to optimise legislation in the angling and commercial fishing system, increase fish resources, establish licensing and control systems. In the future, all tourism facility owners should be encouraged or even obliged to keep detailed records of tourist numbers, water consumption and waste disposal.
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