The „Borjomi-Kharagauli“ National Park in Georgia is one of the largest natural conservation areas in Europe. Biodiversity protection is important, as the mountainous forest regions of the park host ecosystems of global relevance. The park management offers nature education to schools and interested groups and has established a visitor-oriented infrastructure.

The park’s visitor-management plan provides an individual care of visitors to the park. Rising numbers of visitors have caused an overload of the administrative capacities. Due to a growth in visitor numbers, a new strategy of visitor management needs to be established, to ensure that the National Park can be protected for the future. Areas have to be designated and developed for a visitor infrastructure outside the core zone of the National Park.

The GLEN participants design a concept for future tourism management of the National Park. In a first step they analyze interests of visitors, local entrepreneurs and other stakeholders and evaluate data and experience of the past years. They are supported and supervised by the management of the „Borjomi-Kharagauli“ National Park. They have the opportunity to learn from past and present activities in the park and to understand threats and benefits of tourism for local communities and the environment.

Good English skills are a precondition for this internship. Russian or Georgian would be useful, especially for solving everyday issues, but not essential for work. Special requirements for participants include experience in tourism-related issues, especially in local scale eco-tourism, strategic thinking and understanding of community development issues and nature conservation.

The scheduled time for the internship is July to September 2010.

The training and preparation seminars before the internship take place in English. The GLEN team will be composed of one German/Swiss and one Latvian participant. In order to strengthen the Baltic sea cooperation, German applications from Hamburg are particularly welcome.

Proposed by: Janis Kirpitis (GLEN Latvia)

The region of Adjara stretches from the Black Sea shore to the mountainous hinterland at the Turkish boarder in South-western Georgia. Whilst Batumi, the capital of the region, is a very popular tourist destination, the rural areas of Adjara have not been profiting from tourism as an economical factor. The Batumi Business School (BBS) is training students in the field of agro- and ecotourism in order to give employment possibilities to the rural youth while at the same time protecting local traditions and nature.

The GLEN participants are integrated into the framework of Unitours, a student-run tour operator for youth and students at BBS. Together with local students, they work on a survey that identifies the existing situation in the tourism sector, interviewing both tourists and tourism industry stakeholders. Based on this analysis, new tours in the sector of agro- and ecotourism will be developed. In its attempt to modernize its Faculty of tourism, BBS is also hoping for experience and input from the interns to develop ideas for a new curriculum. The GLEN participants are expected to be able to share experiences and knowledge in the field of tourism education. The internship will be composed of field trips as well as of office work and workshops.

A good knowledge of tourism, business and education is expected.

The scheduled time for the internship is September to November 2010.

The training and preparation seminars before the internship take place in English. The GLEN team will be composed of one German/Swiss and one Estonian participant. In order to strengthen the Baltic sea cooperation, German applications from Hamburg are particularly welcome.


Proposed by: Merabi Diasamidze (BBS)