Transforming Recreation and Eco-Tourism: INNO.FOREST Sustainable Innovations

1. INNO FOREST IPRecreational innovation – Group 3 ACASE Eco-friends Enterprise Carmen Nastase - Tutor Kati Eveliina Piirainen – Finland Polya Pavlova – Bulgaria Sisay Asfaw Cheru – Austria Laszlo Nahoczki – Hungary Lucia Danila – Romania September 15, 2006 Zvolen

2. Recreational innovation Recreation is the employment of time in a non-profitable way and refreshment of one's body or mind.

3. ACASE - ECO-friends Enterprise • Location – INNO FOREST Country • Dated from 18 century, reorganized in 1988 - public limited company • Main activity - sector – administration and coordination of forest activities in INNO FOREST

4. I II III IV ACASE - ECO-friends Enterprise

5. ACASE - ECO-friends Enterprise Activities: • Forest management • Forestry services • Services of harvesters companies • Game management • Parquet production • Wood trading • Seedling and nursery (forest and ornamental tree saplings) • Charcoal trade • Forestry school and education • Recreational activities as ecotourism and extreme tourism • Administration of restricted areas

6. Resources of the company: • Issued Capital – 6 mil Euro • Natural - climate and the relief, the landscapes, flora and fauna - unique in Europe and on the Earth, wildlife diversity and beautiful scenery, numerous species of superior plants and invertebrate species, are inviolate and quasi-inviolate areas, the most big volcanic massive from Inno Forest, and volcanic crater with 10 km in diameter, 78% forest surface • Cultural - the traditional way of life of the community • Human - 502 employees • Technical – 13subunit with several buildings, five forest lodges and the necessary equipment for the company’s activities

7. Market situation • The single state/public forestry company • Area - EU countries and East Europe – Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Great Britain, Slovenia, Slovakia and Russia • Customers - public, researchers, experience sharing people, tourists, tourism companies, training companies, owners of non-state forest; hunting and fishing organizations • Competitors – private forest companies, municipality forest companies, tourism companies,parks of neighbourcountries

8. Needings and problems: • Cooperation with national and international companies which works with natural products • To recapture the notoriety on the market • Trying to find some new markets and producing different products • National and international marketing • Financing • Get higher income • Good and efficient PR strategies • Better communication between the SFE, the public, municipality, NGO

9. Needings and problems: • New open museums • Educational trails • Celebrating meetings • Stabilizations and reforestations • The exertion of the incontrollable depasturage, of the unorganized tourism or polluting economic activities • Approvals for tourism activities in restricted areas • Development of the regional tourism • Sustainable manage and using of the forest • To improve communication infrastructures • Equipment – cars, laptops, GPS system

10. Elements for Innovative process: • Good use the forest area with the climate and the relief, the landscapes, flora and fauna • Changing the classical way of protecting the forest, promotion of use of resources by the local people • MFP of INNO FOREST Country • GIS • SYSTEM ‘NUG’

11. Ecotourism level • Diversification of trekking routes (Forestry Outdoor Museum in Vidrovo) • Construction of additional wooden lodges (Liptovsky Miculas) • Strengthening communication/relations with stockholders (private tour operators, schools) • Training for the staff in tourism management

12. Restricted area • Cooperation with youth organisations for volunteers for organization of the park: paths, signs • Association of park’s activities with cultural/religious tourism, specific to the area • Need for different kind of activities from fields like research, health, and sightseeing, photo shooting, educational programs for children, fruit picking, different contests, thematic activities (Tatran National Park) • Cooperation with local tourism units to send tourists, promotion of the activities • Collaboration with similar national or international parks for promotion, exchanges • Web site in EN, GE, FR, RU etc., on line reservation

13. Natural products • Create powerful marketingwhich increase peoples interesting about berries and their properties • To extend cooperation and network with national and international actors, like with companies which ennoble berries to get better knowledge exchange and R&D acting between countries • Create cooperation with national and international travel agenciesthat they could promote picking berries to travelers (for companies which deal with berries) • Make information tables to our national parks about berries and mushrooms that would achieve people’s interest about natural products(Forestry Outdoor Museum in Vidrovo, Tatran National Park)

14. Forestry activities level • Efficient PR strategy between the Enterprise and the Public (Forest State Enterprise Levice and Bansjska Bistrica) • Improving the knowledge of people about the forest and foresters work (Forest State Enterprise Levice) • Enforcing the marketing and the commercial in the televisions, radios, newspapers • Organizing events together with the public like The day of forestry • Improving the knowledge of the employees with trainings, meetings, brainstorming • Improving the machinery

15. Educational level • Establishing an open-air museum for the public (Forestry Outdoor Museum in Vidrovo) • Educational trail (Forestry Outdoor Museum in Vidrovo, Environmental education rout of Municipal Forest Enterprise Zvolen and history of Zvolen Pusti Hrad) • Conscious education of the „forest knowledge“ in elementary schools • School nursery • Open-air classroom • Ecopath to hidden beauty of the Balkan • Increasing environmental knowledge among pupils and their engagement towards forest • Construction of an ecopath and a shelter

16. The expected results: • Increased • student’s evaluation from 4.8 to 5.2 • number of the “green” organizations with 10% • number of the candidates to study in the forestry school is with 30% • number of visitors • New facilities (lodges, tracking routs, educational trails etc.) • Bigger income (2 years 2-5%, 5 years 15-20%) • Increased benefits of the community • Expend of the market - Asia and Pacific • New collaborations and contracts

17. ACASE Eco-Friends Enterprise Education Anticipation Forecasting P Public relation Market Innovation T1 T2 Conclusions:

18. T H A N K Y O U