Prague, March 2 (CTK) – The Central Bohemia Region decided yesterday to establish an agency for the development of tourism in the Brdy Hills, a former military training area that was abandoned by soldiers only a couple of years ago, the region’s spokesman Pavel Lochar told CTK.
One of the first tasks for the new agency will be to mark cycling paths, which could be more than 250 km long in Brdy.
Central Bohemia wants to cooperate with the Plzen Region, in which the western part of Brdy is situated.
Deputy Regional Governor Vit Rakusan said Brdy is a “very interesting area with high tourist potential. In view of the character of local nature, the area must be changed sensitively, without any wild construction or megalomaniac projects.”
The Regional Council decided on founding its own agency yesterday because two organisations, which previously competed for the position of tourism manager in Brdy, subsidised by the Region, failed to agree on their cooperation.
Organisations managing tourism in various areas, known as destination organisations, have been established across the Czech Republic and supported by municipalities, entrepreneurs and organisations dealing with tourism.
Their main tasks are to create a single concept for the whole area and a logo of the area, facilitate its access to tourism financing and bring together subjects interested in cooperation.
A large part of the Brdy Hills, spreading southwest of Prague, became a military area unaccessible to the public in 1926. Ninety percent of the area is covered with forests.
The Brdy military training ground was abolished on January 1, 2016, and the area has been gradually cleared of ammunition and opened to tourists.
rtj/dr/kva
