Ecotourism Estonia

Viitna Korts, Estonia

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:40:00 +0000

Viitna Korts, Estonia
Originally uploaded by Dennis@Stromness

Great place to have your meal on the to Lahemaa National Park

NDR

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 06:29:00 +0000

NDR
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

North German TV-magazine -Ostseereport-, a monthly magazine that tells stories about people who live around the Baltic Sea.

2. of May they show Fifth Season of Soomaa.

Estonian Green Key Hotels Launch Joint Marketing Campaign ‚Key into Autumn’

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:27:00 +0000

Estonian Green Key Hotels Launch Joint Marketing Campaign ‚Key into Autumn’
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Tallinn, October 15, 2009.
Eight Estonian Green Key certified hotels have launched first-ever joint marketing campaign ‚Key into Autumn’ which offers to visitors unique, memorable and educational experiences of Estonian nature. Targeted at both domestic and incoming tourists, the campaign reinforces the image of Estonia as a destination for green and sustainable tourism.

‚Key into Autumn’ campaign consists of eight weekend travel packages in which authentic, one-of-a-kind nature experiences are combined with environment-friendly accommodation in a Green Key hotel. Campaign packages have been developed together with local nature tourism entrepreneurs and nature guides. Campaign packages are offered on every October weekend all across Estonia.

Among more exotic campaign packages are ‚Wolf Tour with Rein Kuresoo’ (offered by Pühajärve SPA Hotel) in which visitors are taken into the vicinity of a wolf habitat in South Estonia, ‚Visit to the Kingdom of Ants’ (Hotel Pesa) guided by the leading Estonian myrmecologist Prof. Ants-Johannes Martin and ‚Soomaa Cranberry Walk’ where visitors on bog-shoes learn about and gather cranberries in Soomaa National Park (Koidulapark Hotel). Other participating hotels include Sokos Hotel Viru, Nordic Hotel Forum (Tallinn), Meresuu SPA & Hotel (Narva-Jõesuu), Hotel Kubija (Võru) and Ammende Villa (Pärnu).

A fundraising project is implemented as part of the campaign, with the aim to collect money for organizing a nature camp for disabled children of Tallinn Orphanage, to be held in the Palupõhja Nature School located in Alam-Pedja Nature Protection Area. For this purpose, 5% of campaign revenues are directed for charitable purposes.
Green Key is an international label for sustainable and environment-friendly management awarded to tourism enterprises. Green Key was founded in Denmark in 1994 and has expanded since then to 13 countries. Green Key was introduced to Estonia in 2001 and has been awarded to 20 accommodation establishments.

The campaign ‚Key into Autumn’ has been developed with the support of Estonian Tourist Board and is implemented by Consumetric, a tourism development consultancy based in Tallinn.

More information about the campaign: www.puhkaeestis.ee/voti and info@consumetric.ee.

Mushrooming Trips in Estonia

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Mushrooming Trips in Estonia
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Estonians on Localyte

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:49:00 +0000

Estonians on Localyte
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

I have created my Profile on Localyte.com!

Travel like a Local on Localyte.com!

Baltic States in Wanderlust - a UK travel magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:31:00 +0000

Baltic States in Wanderlust - a UK travel magazine
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Baltic States in Wanderlust, a UK travel magazine. Robin Ashenden steers you through medieval and Art Nouveau cities, dense forests and dramatic coastlines (part 2)

Including Soomaa

Baltic States in Wanderlust, a UK travel magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:30:00 +0000

Baltic States in Wanderlust, a UK travel magazine
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Baltic States in Wanderlust, a UK travel magazine. Robin Ashenden steers you through medieval and Art Nouveau cities, dense forests and dramatic coastlines (part 1)

Including Saaremaa

Melontaretki erämaan sydämessä

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:34:00 +0000

Melontaretki erämaan sydämessä
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Mikko Virtta was paddling downstreams of Raudna River in Soomaa National Park and wrote an article in Finnish language Newspaper BALTIC GUIDE about Wilderness Canoe Trip in Soomaa

Read Mikkos article here : Melontaretki erämaan sydämessä

Midsummer Celebration in Estonia

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Midsummer Celebration in Estonia
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Midsummer Celebration in Soomaa, Pärnu, Estonia

See more about Events in Pärnu and Soomaa

Sea-Kayaking in Pärnu, Estonia

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:14:00 +0000

Sea-Kayaking in Pärnu, Estonia
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Sea-Kayaking in Pärnu, Estonia.

Look for more informationa about Sea-Kayaking Tours in Pärnu

Tours around Pärnu in Soomaa National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:46:00 +0000

Tours around Pärnu in Soomaa National Park
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Tours around Pärnu in Soomaa National Park

Bear Watching in Estonia

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Finland is quite famous among nature lover for its bear watching facilities. Now also in Estonias first bear hide is established. Read more on Natourest website.

Wet-and-Dry

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Wet-and-Dry
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

‘I don’t know about that bit. It looks a little too wet,’ Algis Martsoo’s warning comes just in time. I still have chance to change direction and skirt around a sinister-looking patch of black mud splashed with sporadic greenery.

I am standing in the middle of one of Europe’s largest peat bogs with what look like red tennis rackets strapped to my feet, conscious that one false step could lead to me ending up to my chest in cold, muddy water. The landscape is one of stunted trees and scrubby vegetation.

Still, if one must be put in such a position, Martsoo is a good person to be with. As a ranger, ecologist and guide at Estonia’s Soomaa National Park, he is something of a bog expert and to spend an afternoon in his company is to take a crash course in one of the continent’s rarest landscapes.

Soomaa is an extraordinary place, 390 square kilometres of wetlands, forests, floodplains and water meadows that comprise Estonia’s second-largest and newest national park. It is also home to rare species such as European brown bear, wolves, lynx and beaver.

Read more http://www.cnntraveller.com/2009/07/06/wet-and-dry/

Welcome to Estonian National Parks!

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:50:00 +0000

Welcome to Estonian National Parks!
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Enjoyed Tallinn Old Town (or other Estonian cities)? Beautiful, unforgettable! Now take a break and look out of this marvellous city. Estonia has much more to offer! We have kept the secrets of our nature for you to discover. Clean empty beaches, picturesque small towns and villages, untoutched forests full of berries, mushrooms, animals and birds. We have prepared National Park Tour for you through 4 of our parks. Come and enjoy exiting activities in Estonian variable nature either by:

* Biking in Lahemaa National Park (Land of Bays),or
* River canoeing and bog walking in Soomaa National Park (Land of Bogs), or
* Boating and hiking in the archipelagoof Vilsandi National Park, the 100 years old nature reserve in Europe!
* Canoeing in the endless reeds of Kasari River Delta in our Bird’s Paradise Matsalu National Park

You are welcome to join the whole trip, but you can also make a choice of some destinations out of these four.

Take your time, our northern nature is worth discovering all the year round!

World Wetlands Day - Üleilmne märgalade päev

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:29:00 +0000

World Wetlands Day - Üleilmne märgalade päev
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

How do you celebrate World Wetlands Day?
We go for bog-shoeing trip on Kuresoo bog, Soomaa National Park in Estonia.
Welcome to join us on Sunday 01. February!

Meeting at 11.am in Karuskose.
Trip is guided by Aivar Ruukel, and lasts 4 hours.
Price EEK 300 includes rental of bogshoes.

Bogshoes have been used to walk on wetlands throughout the times. These footwear allow us access to the places where it is hard or even impossible to reach by foot.

Read more about Bog Shoeing Experience here.

Book your Bog Shoeing Experience here!

Happ New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:31:00 +0000

Happ New Year
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

2008 years slideshow by Soomaa.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:49:00 +0000

Fifth season in Soomaa

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:37:00 +0000

Karuskosel
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Soomaa National Park enjoys a fifth season. Visitors are welcome to take a paddling trips on meadows and in the forests.

Canoeing on the flooded meadows

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:49:00 +0000

Where is the river?
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Heavy rains caused a flood in Soomaa National Park, allowing visitors to have a paddling trips on meadows.

Asia Interprise Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:17:00 +0000

Asia Interprise Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism 2008
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

This “Asia Interprise Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism 2008” from 20th to 21st of November 2008 offers the companies an excellent opportunity to collect information on the participating markets and to establish contacts with selected counterparts in the ecotourism and sustainable tourism sector.
The meetings will be scheduled for the Asian and European companies, taking into consideration their individual requests, the company profiles and their objectives. By organising the matchmaking in this way, Consorzio Italasia and its partners aim to create an arena for meaningful and successful business meetings for the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Sector.
The meetings will take place during the first 2 days of the exhibition China International Travel Mart 2008 Fair in Shanghai on 20th and 21st of November 2008.
The target groups

The project will involve:
30 European companies (12 Italian, 3 Estonian, 5 French, 5 German and 5 Greek) who will explore new business opportunities in the attractive Asian markets. This will lead to an increase in trade and indirect investments.
80 Asian companies (55 Chinese, 10 Vietnamese, 5 Cambodian, 5 Nepalese, 5 Pakistan) from the public and private sector. This will go towards the reduction in the know how gap in relation to ecotourism standards
The Project target groups are:

* tour operators, companies and organisations involved in the tourism and ecotourism sector
* services suppliers (training and education etc.) and consultants (ecolabel certifications etc.)
* equipments suppliers (sport equipments, hospitality equipments etc.)
* hotel construction (non traditional lodging, ecolodge and environmental appliances etc.)
* sustainable transports and infrastructures

The fair

The business meetings will take place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, in the framework of the 10th China International Travel Mart 2008 (CITM) that will be held from 20th to 23rd of November 2008 in an area of 57.500 sqm with 2.300 booths. CITM is an annual event that is held in Shanghai and Kunming alternatively. As the largest professional travel mart in Asia, CITM has drawn the attention of people in the tourism industry worldwide. The CITM 2007 covered an area of 50,000 square meters and consisted of 2.193 exhibition booths, including 1.355 domestic booths and 838 overseas booths
Participants in CITM come from all sectors of the travel industry including international and domestic tourist organizations, travel agencies, hotels, airlines and related travel companies.
Further information at:
www.citm.com.cn
Your advantages

* Market survey on the ecotourism sector in the participating countries
* 2 days of individual meetings with pre-selected business partners
* Organisation of an information seminar
* Official invitations to the companies you specifically wish to meet
* Free publication of your company profile on the project website
* Catalogue with an individual page per participating company in English/Chinese introducing your company and products/services
* Free interpreter services during the meetings
* Travel and hotel reservation assistance and facilities

Promoting ecological tourism

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:17:00 +0000

Baltic Times

Jun 04, 2008
By Marge Tubalkain-Trell

Helping nature while on vacation is hard work, but fun.

When hard times hit, tourism is one of the first industries to suffer. After all, leisure is a luxury that you cannot afford when the price of food is going up. Nevertheless, as we discovered when researching this week's Insider, rural tourism is actually doing quite well. This is because businesses reach out to specific niche markets, rather than target the generic person who just wants to spend a day in the countryside. This has created a loyal customer base that is unlikely to give up on their days in the countryside so that they can buy a larger car. In this week's Industry Insider, we look at three of those niche markets – ecotourism, hunting and company summer days.

TALLINN - Ever since the release of the anti-pesticide sensational book “Silent Spring” in 1962, people face the reality of their impact on the environment. What is more, people are becoming aware of how they damage nature when they visit it.
Today airlines and hotel chains are trying to reduce their impact on nature by being more conscious of what they use. Some companies – such as Estonian Air – also plant trees. It’s called sustainable tourism, and ecological tourism is a large part of it.

“Ecological tourism is a narrower term than sustainable tourism. When talking about ecological tourism people mean [things] happening outside tourism structures – what’s out of buses, hotels, planes. Sleeping on a farm is not ecological tourism,” said Aivar Ruukel from the Estonian Ecotourism Union.
Traveling responsibly and standing for nature, culture and rural communities doesn’t mean not having a good time. It is just the activities are a bit different than in a classical vacation.
One thing that surely comes with ecological tourism is learning things that have been forgotten for a long time – whether it’s a handicraft or something else. For example, at the end of June there will be a training course on making one-man-boats.

For those who want to get their hands dirty, there are events called “travel bees.” For example, some are organized to help half-wild and half-cultivated areas, such as meadows, from becoming fully wild.
Estonia has the largest number of different plant breeds in the northern hemisphere – 25 percent of the territory is composed of different kinds of wetlands, while around 15 percent of the country’s territory is protected area. Those interested in nature find Estonia a good place to start.
Since the word “ecotourism” sounds like gibberish to most local people, the Estonian Ecotourism Association prefers to call it real tourism. It has even copyrighted the initials “EHE,” meaning “real and interesting Estonia.”

“We came to the conclusion that Estonian ecotourism can also be named ‘real tourism,’ as it would be more understandable. At the international level, it still would be called ‘ecotourism’ in English, but in Estonia people’s values should be pointed out,” said Mikk Sarv from the Green Party.
Estonia sets safety standards for hotels so that they will be able to cope with a large flow of tourists. But ecological tourism is still at the local level and there are only small groups of travelers.
“The requirements shouldn’t be so hard. It’s not the Hilton Hotel or a giant establishment where thousands of people go through,” said Sarv.

To make matters worse, there is no marketing for ecological tourism, which means people are not really aware of it. Some 75 percent of people who use ecological tourism are Estonians. Much more could be done to encourage foreigners to have eco-friendly vacations.
The countryside is facing an image problem which pundits say is difficult to solve.
“The country is searching for a reason people should come. No one’s coming to Estonia [just] to sleep in a hotel or fly with a plane. Tallinn’s Old Town has been, and will be, the most important travel [destination], but no one has thought of anything besides it. Spas are largely for the internal market and Finns are leaving because prices got higher,” said Ruukel.

Some think the answer is training travel executive. There is also some training offered. Luua Metsanduskool(Forestry school) and Vorumaa Vocational Center include ecological tourism in its program.
They are part of ECOLL, an EU program specifically set up to help people study ecological tourism in four countries – Estonia, Italy, Finland and Poland.

“To discover that our country is exciting, rich and worth visiting outside of Tallinn, the first step is to see rural tourism and then ecological tourism,” said Sarv.

Sea-kayaking in Pärnu

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:22:00 +0000

Kajakimatkad Pärnus
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Canoeing on Lemmjogi River

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:35:00 +0000

Shveitslased Lemmjõel kanuumatkal
Originally uploaded by Ruukel

Lemmjogi River is one of the most beautiful canoeing routes of Soomaa National Park.

www.soomaa.com

Soomaa.com Dugout-Canoe Entered a Geotourism Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:31:00 +0000

Dear friends,

We need your support!

We are very excited to be entrants in the National Geographic Ashoka's Changemakers Geotourism Challenge: Celebrating Places, Changing Lives. This is a global competition to surface and recognize innovators in geotourism, defined as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of the place being visited - its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.

Soomaa.com is a featured entrant in this initiative. We are promoting and preserving the building skills and use of traditional dugout canoes (log-boats) of Soomaa National Park, Estonia by organizing workshops, camps and river trips both for locals and tourists. By being part of this competition, we have a great opportunity to get the word out about our work to leaders in the geotourism field, investors, the media, potential partners, and other supporters.

The competition winners will be decided by online voting, so the more people we can inspire, the better!

Please help us rally support for our work:

Visit our project entry http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/7540.
Leave us feedback about our entry. Here's how:
1. If you do not have a Changemakers account, please click here to register on the site. It only takes a couple of minutes.
2. Login at the Changemakers website.
3. Go to the competition page.
4. Visit my entry, read about what I do and leave me feedback! http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/7540
5. Update your profile and be part of a growing online community of support
Spread the word to your colleagues and friends through your emails, blogs, or websites. I've included some information about us below that you are welcome to share with others.

This contest can give our work a great boost. Thank you very much for your help!

Aivar Ruukel
www.soomaa.com

World’s leading tourism journalists in Tallinn

noreply@blogger.com (Aivar Ruukel) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:46:00 +0000

Yesterday, 15 April, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts opened the conference of the World Federation of Journalists and Travel Writers in Tallinn.

The 39 journalists of FIJET (World Federation of Journalists and Travel Writers) from 24 countries will be in Estonia from 14-19 April at the meeting organised by the Tourist Board of Enterprise Estonia. The honorary guests at the event are the President of FIJET, Tijani Haddad, who is the former Minister of Tourism of Tunisia and current Vice President of the World Tourism Organisation.

In his opening speech, Juhan Parts stressed the importance of tourism on the Estonian economy and expressed his satisfaction over the fact that FIJET has selected Estonia, where most of the journalists of the federation will be for the first time, as the venue for the conference. “The plenary session of FIJET gives us a good chance to introduce Estonia as a travel destination to the best travel journalists and thus be advertised in the world’s leading media publications,” said Tarmo Mutso, Director of the Tourist Board of Enterprise Estonia.

From 14-16 April, the journalists of FIJET will be in Tallinn, from 17-19 April, they will get acquainted with Saaremaa and Tartu. Enterprise Estonia is organising the visit of the tourism journalists to Estonia within the framework of the programme for introducing Estonia as a travel destination, which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

FIJET was founded in Paris in 1954 and is the oldest society of professional travel journalists in the world. FIJET has more than 900 members from over 40 countries; it is the largest internationally operating organisation of professional journalists in the world.

See more at: http://www.fijet-web.com