News of www.balkan-treasures.com

Now that the internet portal www.balkan-trasures.com is available in English, the participating countries have put together an Easter Special for the week leading up to Easter. Representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia report on how they spend Easter and which customs are upheld in each region. Quaint anecdotes and very personal accounts invite the reader to read and smile.

The web portal Treasures of the Balkans offers comprehensive information on the different countries, an overview of the diverse attractions, includes news and information on the national tourism organizations and professional local incoming agencies. Tour operators can use the website to take up contact with local agencies and marketing organisations.

The website, originally in German as www.balkan-schaetze.com, was launched in August 2008 during the RDA workshop in Cologne, Germany, where all the participating countries had come together. It has proven a good single point of contact for tour operators planning tours in the region.

From March 25 to 27, 2009, the countries of the Balkan Treasures met at a joint workshop in Becici / Budva, Montenegro to discuss the upcoming RDA workshop in August of this year. One focus of the meeting was the interregional cooperation of the participating countries, a topic discussed intensively. One of the results of these discussions was a number of interesting tours through the region, to be presented at the RDA workshop.

Through the site, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is aiming to help increase awareness for these destinations and to present partners which can deal competently with the resulting demand.