Officials from the Vitebsk region and Latgale will be the first to test the cross-border kayak tour on the Western Dvina

May 24, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Sports officials from the Vitebsk region and Latgale (Latvia) will take part in the first cross-border canoe promo tour along the Western Dvina, which starts in Polotsk on May 25. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the department of physical culture, sports and tourism of the Polotsk City Executive Committee. The laurels of pioneers, along with the hardships of a difficult water crossing, will be tried and tested by the heads and chief specialists of the sports and tourism departments of Beshenkovichi, Vitebsk, Sharkovshchina, Verkhnedvinsk, Polotsk districts, journalists of republican media, and tourism experts - a total of 10 people. In Verkhnedvinsk, they will be joined by 10 colleagues from Latvia, and together they will cross the Belarusian-Latvian border at the simplified checkpoint "Druya". The promo tour became possible thanks to the EU project "Bella Dvina - Crossing Borders, Discovering Culture, Enjoying the Nature of the Western Dvina/Daugava Region". The goal of the tour is to attract the attention of tourists from Belarus and neighboring countries to water routes in the cross-border tourist region "Bella Dvina", which includes the Vitebsk region and Latgale (Latvia). The total length of the planned route is about 150 km. From the starting point of the route - the city of Polotsk - tourists on kayaks will travel to Novopolotsk on the first day, and by the evening of the next day they will be expected in the smallest city in Belarus - Disna. The third day of the tour will end in the village of Yustiyanovo, and on the fourth day the team will visit Verkhnedvinsk, the village of Leonpol, cross the Belarusian-Latvian border and stop in Piedruja. In the next two days, the tour participants will visit Gandeli and Kraslava. The promo tour will conclude on May 30 in the village of Slutishki, where the international festival of folk arts "Augšdaugava 2010" will be held on the territory of the Daugava Loop Nature Park. As noted by the department specialists, the section of the route from Verkhnedvinsk to Slutishki is part of the cross-border water route "From the Lake Maze - to the Beautiful Dvina", which was developed this year within the framework of the "Bella Dvina" project. The route is designed so that tourists traveling by kayak can also get acquainted with the sights of the Vitebsk region and Latgale. During their journey, the promo tour participants have planned meetings with local residents and representatives of travel agencies to share their impressions of the trip in real-time, as well as to talk about the "Bella Dvina" project itself. Meetings will be held in Polotsk, Disna, Verkhnedvinsk, and Kraslava. The project "Bella Dvina - Crossing Borders, Discovering Culture, Enjoying the Nature of the Western Dvina/Daugava Region" is being implemented under the EU program "Baltic Sea Region INTERREG III B - Neighbourhood Programme - INTERREG IIIA - Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus (South) Priority". The program is aimed at supporting cross-border cooperation between the border regions of Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania. The main goal of the project and the main task of the partners is to create a unified tourist space between Daugavpils, Polotsk, and Vitebsk, as well as to inform the public about the opportunities of this region.-0-