On 27th February 2018, in the premises of the Municipality of Vareš, the Alterural association organized a workshop on the topic of environment and strengthening of sustainable development strategies in mountainous areas. Luca Lietti, Italian economist and eminent expert in the field of sustainable development in rural areas, held this training in front of 17 participants from the whole area of ​​Central Bosnia. The workshop attended by the owners of rural households as well as representatives of local initiatives whose activities are taking place in rural areas is the third in a row of a total of 6 planned with the theme of creating a tourist cluster. After the introductory words of Mayor Vares, Zdravko Marošević, the lecturer introduced the present with very successful models of sustainable development of rural areas in numerous regions of Italy, playing them short educational films on the subject. Through the practical part, participants divided into groups created their own vision of a wider geographical area, viewing it as a unique tourist brand with prominent cultural and historical values.




"The market has changed considerably over the past five years, and it's important to understand that a good tourist product must have a unique story behind it," says Luca. "Today is no longer enough to have beautiful brochures, attractive promotional material or a great website, you must know how to tell the story." The ultimate goal is to create 4 tourist destinations in the wider area around Sarajevo. The project "Building-up rural tourist destinations around Sarajevo to diversify rural economy" was supported by the 2014-2015 Civil Society Program, with the aim of linking citizens and reducing unemployment through enhancing local stakeholder cooperation and assessing the active population market. The project is funded by the European Union. The duration of the project is 3 years, and the municipalities of this project are Kreševo, Vareš, Ilijaš, Fojnica, Sarajevo Center, Stari Grad and Stari Grad.