The Kyrgyz Association of Tour Operators (KATO), in partnership with HELVETAS Intercooperation GGMBH, the European Center for Ecological and Agricultural Tourism “Stichting – Netherlands” (ECEAT), and the Kyrgyz Community Based Tourism Association (KCBTA) “Hospitality Kyrgyzstan”, is implementing a four-year project “Greentour Kyrgyzstan” from May 2020. The overall objective of the project is the assistance in the transition of Kyrgyzstan to a green economy by strengthening the sustainability and competitiveness of the tourism sector. The specific goal is to make Kyrgyz tourism more sustainable, adapting and implementing proven sustainable production and consumption practices, developing greener products, integrated SMEs and gaining a competitive advantage in the global tourism market. The project is funded by the European Union program SWITCH-Asia Program of the European Union. More information can be found on the Helvetas website: https://www.helvetas.de/en/what-we-do/how-we-work/all-helvetas-network-projects/Asia/Kygyzstan/kygyzstan-greentour

About Greentour Project

The overall objective of the project is the assistance in the transition of Kyrgyzstan to a green economy by strengthening the sustainability and competitiveness of the tourism sector through the adaptation and implementation of proven practices of sustainable production and consumption, the development of greener products and gaining competitive advantages.

One of the goals of the project is to familiarize tour operators with the Travelife platform – the Tourism Sustainability Initiative.

With Travelife you will get a number of benefits: tools for calculating the environmental impact of your tourism products (for example, a “carbon footprint calculator”), forms of reporting on sustainable management, personal coach, online assessment and certification, access to trainings in various areas of your business:

 responsible guides,

guides and sustainability,

waste management,

environmentally and socially responsible business,

children protection,

animal protection,

staff involvement, etc.

Currently the training “COVID-19 Awareness” for the tourism sector is in finalizing stage. The training will provide practical recommendations for preparing enterprises to work in a pandemic.

You can familiarize yourself with the platform and trainings on the website https://www.travelife.info/