15 Locals of Goris and Kapan Receiving Grants from EU
Published: Jul 4, 2019 Reading time: 2 minutes
With a total value of €127,000 the 15 grants will fund a Magical forest experience inspired by the Oma forest in Spain and electric bicycle tours in Tandzaver, the Ttenut eco tent camp in Karahunj village, the renovation of the Kapan children's park, a new tea house for youth in Tatev, reconstruction of fruit drying facilities near Khndzoresk Hanging Bridge, a hikers service point in Bardzravan village, construction of a 645 m zipline in Vachagan village, launch of audio-visual production to capture tourism experiences in the form of short videos and aerial photos, launch of horseback riding, garden restaurant and village life explorations in Hartashen village, launch of competitive quartz hiking games between Svarants and Vahanavank, a new B&B on Mount Khustup and a new amateur fishing site on the forest lake by Bardzravan village.
“I and European Union Delegation colleagues are very excited about these new tourism products, which will make visits to Syunik marz even more interesting and help create income and new business opportunities to rural villages and communities in the region', said Gregory Tsouris, Deputy Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Armenia at the 15 sub-grants contracting ceremony today. The sub-grants, to be implemented under the "EU4Tourism: Outdoor adventures on historic trails in Syunik" project, aim to develop new tourism products along a new 300 km hiking trail created from Goris to Kapan (more precisely Khndzoresk to Khustup).
Varduhi Dadunts, Country Director of PIN Armenia said: "EU4Tourism: Outdoor adventures on the historic trails in Syunik" project supports communities located in and around Goris and Kapan in further development of their tourism potential. The focus is on supporting the rural population in villages that has not benefited from tourism infrastructure investments thus far. The project started in March of 2018 and has different missions in Goris and Kapan areas: scouting, mapping and marking the touristic route between Goris and Kapan, collecting local legends and providing grants for community initiatives and festivals".
The EU project is realised with a €425,000 grant and co-financing from the Czech civil society organisation People in Need with Goris Development Center (GDC) and ARK Ecological NGO (ARK).
