Military Heritage

Objectives of the project are:

1. to develop and promote 1 joint cross-border Military Heritage tourism product integrating new and existing individual military heritage tourism objects in Estonia and Latvia,
2. to develop 1 cross-border network for functioning, further development, and promotion of the product,
3. to improve 36 sites - military heritage tourism objects.

The joint Latvian-Estonian military heritage tourism product concept is a network of ca 150-170 tourist attraction objects in Latvia and Estonia (museums, collections, expositions, buildings, and structures, etc.) dedicated to one of four periods in the history of Latvia and Estonia: WW I, WW II, National partisan movement, Under Soviet rule / on the way to the restoration of independence.

Individual objects in the Military Heritage joint tourism product meet the following criteria:

• the product contains attractive and interactive information presentation on one or several of the 4 defined periods in the history;
• the product can be experienced in a group or individually;
• product info on-site allows full touristic experience for independent visitors (e.g., info stands, audio-guide);
• the product site and/or constructions are safe for visitors;
• the product site has at least minimum tourist infrastructure/facilities/services in the surroundings.

Main activities of the project:

• product and network development workshops and national events in Latvia and |Estonia to inform and involve stakeholders and form the military heritage tourism product network,
• on-site visits to military heritage objects and nearby tourist services will be made to collect information for product description, to meet and involve local stakeholders, and to collect historical information for (historical documents, memories of people, photos, maps etc.).
• to develop and disseminate among stakeholders a guideline for the integration of military heritage objects in tourism products,
• to select, in partner consortium, the objects to be included in Military Heritage tourism product marketing activities,
• to develop Military Heritage product visual identity and mark objects with information plates bearing the common visual  identity,
• to make site improvements in military heritage objects,
• to develop  a common marketing platform with full product information and link with partner web sites,
• to develop printed marketing publications: Military Heritage product guide and Tourist Brochure,
• to promote the product to the travel industry and potential tourists.