Municipality of Struga and Municipality of Pogradec are neighboring municipalities, separated by the border between North Macedonia and Albania. They are both part of the Ohrid Lake region, known as one of the oldest and deepest lakes in Europe, surrounded by mountains.
Despite the tourism potential of these two municipalities, there is a lack of services and trained tourism service providers, a weak presence in the tourism market and a lack of an integrated strategy for the management and promotion of cultural and natural heritage and insufficient involvement of community actors in both Struga and Pogradec Municipalities. For this reason, there is a need for joint management of common heritage sites through the direct and continuous involvement of local/regional actors/experts.
The public authorities in these two municipalities will gain a deeper knowledge of the territories involved, thanks to the territory map, as well as increased revenues due to the establishment of a new management model. By developing the potential of tourism by promoting heritage and cultural values, the destination countries themselves should benefit from a higher tourist flow, influencing the local economy. Through the best available promotion tools, digital maps and web positioning, local, regional and global publics will be made aware of new tourism sites and content so that economic growth can be ensured through self-sustainable models.
The goal of the COOLTOUR project is to increase the joint tourist offer that will give a new dimension to cultural tourism in the area of these two municipalities, in accordance with the national and local strategic documents; develop and improve the infrastructure and the current situation that can offer occasional and short-term programs, address users of facilities with many interests, offering a variety of cultural and innovative content throughout the year.