Gauja national park tourism cluster Information

Largest tourism project in the Baltic states with more than 1 milj. visitors, 60 enterprises, 10 municipals, Vidzeme university and Nature conservation agency involved. Cluster is based in extended Gauja national park region with many resources and innovations created to become one of the top destinations in North Europe. Gauja National Park was established on 14 September 1973 and is therefore the first, the oldest and the largest national park in Latvia. Gauja National park is the most popular tourism destination in Latvia for nature based tourism activities having 40% of its market share from export. National park is characterized by a high biological diversity, rock outcrops and varied terrain shapes, springs, picturesque landscapes and many historical and cultural monuments from different centuries. The major part of the national park and the dominant is the old valley of the Gauja River. In the national park, there are over 500 monuments of history and culture – hillforts, stone castles, churches, manors, water and windmills, as well as other archeological, architectural and art monuments. Owners of tourism objects and tourism service providers in the territory of Gauja National park have established a long-term cooperation in order to improve tourism service, to create new innovative tourism products and to promote Gauja national park for international audiences.