The organisation has a new name

From 30 April 2021, the legal NGO “Latvian Resorts Association” has been renamed. The organisation’s new name that has been approved is the “Latvian Health Tourism Cluster”.

This has occurred for logical reasons. In implementing ERDF Project No.3.2.1.1./16/A/010 “Latvian Health Tourism Cluster,” the NGO “Latvian Resorts Association” expanded, implementing its activities in various directions focused on health and medical tourism. The NGO was founded in 2008 with the goal of fostering the development of the medical treatment infrastructure in Latvia’s resort towns and promoting medical tourism nationally and serves as a source of support for all its members in the attainment of their goals and introduction of innovations.

The Latvian Health Tourism Cluster oversees the fulfilment of the NGOs erstwhile goals and tasks, actively functions internationally, and has implemented various cooperation projects with foreign cooperation partners, initiating and developing various grant application projects.

“Recently, including in Latvia itself, the name of the Latvian Health Tourism Cluster has become much more widely known, which primarily confirmed that we are on the right track, strengthening our identity and collaborating to make us more competitive internationally. Initially used as a project name, in time it has become our legal name. One of our priorities is and will continue to be the development of resort towns and that of their public medical treatment infrastructure in Latvia, mindful but effective use of Latvia’s natural healing resources in medical care and in the creation of innovative health products. We are focused on the implementation of health tourism and medical export support activities and believe that changing our legal name underlines this,” admits the Latvian Health Tourism Cluster’s CEO Gunta Ušpele.

“The Latvian Health Tourism Cluster is an ongoing project. It is a system in which to work more effectively so that collaboration between educational and research bodies, businesses, NGOs and governmental bodies will result in the formation of an orderly ecosystem, exploiting the export potential of health services qualitatively to the greatest possible extent,” explains the Latvian Health Tourism Cluster’s Board Chair Lana Kutiščeva.

The project’s total budget amounts to EUR 485,874.42 of which total eligible costs are EUR 485 874.42. ERDF funding makes up 85% of the eligible costs, i.e. EUR 412 993.26 while private funding makes up 15% of the eligible costs, i.e. EUR 72,881.16. The goal of the cluster project is to promote sustainable cooperation between companies operating in the Latvian health tourism sector and organisations offering education and knowledge, thus increasing their competitiveness in health care and health tourism, and facilitating an increase in total spending by foreign travellers in Latvia and the creation of high value added products. On 9 February 2017, the NGO “Latvian Association of Resort Towns” signed a contract with the Central Finance and Contracting Agency to implement European Union fund Project No. 3.2.1.1/16/A/010 “Latvian Health Tourism Cluster”. The Latvian Health Tourism Cluster was established under the NGO “Latvian Association of Resort Towns” in March 2012. It is made of 64 health tourism business offering a very wide range of services, ranging from state, municipal and regional hospitals, private clinics, rehabilitation centres and spa hotels, through to tourism agencies, education and research institutions, as well as Liepāja, Sigulda and Saulkrasti councils.