How did “When in Krusevo” opened the door for the adventure tourism for the locals!
It was late spring of 2017 when we were finishing the development for the new app “When in X“ — marketplace that was going to engage the locals to offer tours and experiences online. In the promotion strategy we had in mind to organize an EVENT that will involve most of our potential partners and create awareness for our startup.
Picking the right location for the event was not so hard, since I come from Krushevo, the connection with the locals was most important factor for us, to start with (what going to turn out out as one of the most successful adventure festival in the region) development of “When in Krushevo” Outdoor adventure festival!
“Eagles nest”!
To those who haven’t heard, Krushevo’s (nickname is “Eagle’s nest”) is one of the historically most important places in Macedonia. It is located in the heart of a mountains, surrounded with untouched nature, and it is highest town on the Balkans with 1230 ASL. Populated with around 5000, during the socialist history of Yugoslavia, infrastructure for winter tourism was developed (couple of hotels, ski lifts and one of the rarest Doppelmayr chair lift that starts from the town and finishes on the highest peak of the ski fields).
With all the climate change and development of much more perspective ski centers in the region, Krushevo as ski center had little chance to be competitive and stay in tourism business as winter destination.
“Fortune favors the brave”
Then it happened, a group of enthusiasts in early 1990’s figures out that in the closes surrounding of the town (near the famous landmark Mechkin Kamen) lies one of the best conditions for paragliding and hand gilding in Europe. Because of the predictable weather and no strong winds, thousands of adrenaline seekers are visiting Krushevo from all around the world, and many professional competitions were held (World championships ant so on).
Future looked good, but again the regional tourists were not recognizing the the potential for other outdoor sports, to be clear, not everyone is meant to be a paraglider or a hand glider. Krushevo desperately needed promotion and development of the other outdoor activities, such as hiking, mount biking, horse riding, water sports (Krushevo has a small accumulation lake too!) , etc. The nowadays travelers need more experiences then ever, people are tired from all round “Starbucks” and “McDonald’s” offerings in every city they go to. Krusevo is the perfect getaway — it is rustic, clean and surrounded with potential for tours and activities!
“Year 1 — the beginning”
Back to our drawing board, in June 2017, we planned the first festival to involve the trademark outdoor sport — the paragliding — to be the starting point. Together with the local club we offered special price to all participants that want to try tandem paragliding. We marked two tracks for mountain biking, 20 and 40 km, we invited hiking guides to lead 2 groups of hiking routes 10 and 20 km. Next was the camping ground, we decided to select the lakeside for camping zone, where we provided logistic for fresh water, showers and toilets, and we made contact with the local authorities. They helped with offering to cover the expanses of one of the live bands for the night parties and other infrastructure assistance. What we also wanted to involve was the local culture, therefore we asked the local museums to open the doors for all of our participants, the authorities agreed and that is how we closed the circle of Outdoor sports, night open air parties and museum tours for everyone during the weekend of When in Krushevo!
August 05–08, 2017, more than 500 participants got their t-shirt, lunch with the group, guided tours, museum tickets. Because of the free entrance on the night events, the event was visited with more than 2000 guests.
“Progress”
Fast forward to the next year, Outdoor Adventure Festival “When in Krushevo” was recognized as great potential, and thanks to support of AECOM project “Move your finger” and Swiss embassy project IME , we managed to improve the festival on every level. New activities were involved, such as kayaking and SUP (stand up paddle), yoga, cross fit etc. We improved the culture segment with local food tasting, and most of all we had the opportunity to massively improve the open air parties, we got the pleasure to host Grammy awarded reggae group coming from Jamaica — INNER CIRCLE. The event was major success with numbers that were more than double comparing the first year.
“Winter edition”
February 2019, the gates of Krushevo were opened for the first ever Winter Outdoor festival — When in Krushevo: Winter is here! The organization teamed up with the local guesthouse owners, and provided significant dumping prices for accommodation during the event. Winter hiking route was organized, more food tasting (delicious local sausages, famous in the country), indoor parties and the table was set for more winter festivals.
“Year 3, firm scale”
June this year, was the third edition of our outdoor festival, and we are happy to have more and more satisfied visitors. The locals are giving their support with no more doubts, they know what to expect and they too believe in our mission to set Krushevo as capital of the outdoor sports in Macedonia.
During our preparations one of the locals came to us with proposal to offer the guests horseback riding tours, activity that was not existing so far in Krushevo. We gave him our full support in promoting and involving the tour in our variety of activities. It turn out as one of the most popular experience, the horse riding was fully booked for the two days of the festival. During the following summer, the owner of the horses prepared marketing flyers about his tours and spread them around the town and local hotels and guesthouses. His results were astonishing, he had bookings during the whole summer. That made me and the rest the team fulfilled with honor, knowing for sure that we really made difference and set the base stones of the adventure tourism in Krushevo.
“Next steps“
Our organizations is not going to wait for the bi-annually periods to work on the winter and summer editions of the festival. We work hard to improve them for sure, but our main goal is to develop into a larger community that will provide tours and activities in Krushevo and its region all year long. Founding an office in the town, and getting our own equipment for outdoor sports (mountain bikes, kayaks, SUPs, rock climbing gear, etc) is our next challenge. We believe that many organizations will recognize our mission and together with the locals we will really turn Krushevo into outdoor capital of the country!
Until then, book your ticket for our next event,
and …
see you in Krushevo!
