Final conference: "Rural tourism - innovations and regional development", Ust-Kamenogorsk, June, 6-7, 2017

The conference aimed to promotion of the project results to organisations responsible for the management and preservation of natural and cultural heritage and tourism development such as  Kazakhstan Tourism Association, museums, NGOs, protected areas, district councils and tourism department of the East-Kazakhstan oblast' akimat, tour-operators, community leaders and journalists.

The conference organised by Youth public association Environment and Tourist centre 'TEC' in close cooperation with Machaon International and Museum of Architecture and Ethnography of East-Kazakhstan Region.

Programme included 3 parts: plenary (15 presentations), craft fair with open-air concert and field visit to Poperechnaja village (in order to demonstrate project achievments in the field). Project concluding publication and other publications were disseminated between conference participants.

 Of the most great interest for the conference participants was the innovative and low-cost approaches for SRTD such with the organization of cultural events (especially art-symposia), festivals, crafts fairs and folklore programmes, which intricately link contemporary comforts for enjoyment of the public while helping to re-create and preserve forgotten traditional technologies, crafts and folk art as well as to reconstruct social life, business and leisure activities of our ancestors.    

Thanks conference, 30 specialists from different parts of Kazakhstan got access to project experience and innovations, and studied know-how approaches used in the framework of project  - the living example of integration of nature and traditional culture protection within the current socio-economic setting there heritage contributing to income and employment generation for local communities. The innovative approaches to  SRTD (first of all - social tourism, art-events and festivales) were highly appreciated by conference participants