ECOTOURISM

"Strengthening partnerships for Nature Conservation and Tourism in Romania" - was a grant making and capacity building program that stimulated the development and promotion of ecotourism in Romania, through supporting sustainable initiatives.

The program was implemented in partnership with the Association of Ecotourism in Romania.
The goal of the program was to promote the concept and the development of ecotourism, in order to support nature conservation and local communities.

The objectives of the program:
1. Capacity building of protected areas' managers/organizations that run nature conservation projects for a sustainable use of natural and traditional values that respect nature through ecotourism;
2. Support of tour operators in order to develop programs and ecotourism products based on natural and traditional values that respect nature;
3. Support of partnerships between tour operators and protected areas' managers/organizations that run nature conservation projects for the development and implementation of ecotourism projects;
4. A better understanding of the ecotourism concept for partners that are involved in the development and promotion of ecotourism products.

The program awarded grants to fifteen projects with a total value of more than 250,000 RON.

Another very important outcome of the program was that the Association of Ecotourism in Romania developed an ecotourism certification scheme.