The Riga Cycling Conference is held annually on the last Friday of November by the Traffic Department of Riga City Council and the Latvian Cycling Union. This year it will be organized in partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands in Latvia. It is the biggest cycling conference in the Baltics and possibly in Eastern Europe. Each year the conference has a different topic, the topic this year is cycling tourism. The Conference gathers together people from the cycling tourism industry, urban and territorial planners, municipal representatives, designers, transport and traffic management experts, and cycling enthusiasts.

For the 5th time the conference will bring together professionals not only from Latvia, but also from Estonia, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The Conference will be held at Riga City Council, Ratslaukums 1, Riga LV–1539

Conference program:

Registration 8:30-09:00

Latvia and Cycling Tourism

09:00 - 09:10       Introductory words. H.E. Pieter Jan Langenberg, Netherlands ambassador to Latvia

09:10 - 09:20       Introductory words. Nils Ušakovs, Mayor of Riga

09:20 - 09:30       Opportunities for Cycling tourism in Latvia”. Vilnis Ķirsis, Parliamentary Secretary of Ministry of Economics of Latvia

09:30 - 09:50       Cycling tourism in Riga. Chairman of the Board of “LiveRiga”, Vita Jermoloviča, Latvia

09:50 - 10:05       Discussion

10:05 - 10:25       Cycling infrastructure development plan of Latvia and the role of cycling tourism in it. Aigars Šarpņicks, Latvian State Roads, Latvia

10:25 - 10:40       Discussion

10:40 - 11:00       Cycling tourism experience in Europe and advice for successful cycling tourism development in Latvia. Jens Erik Larsen, consultant of “Foreningen Frie Fugle”, representative of European Cyclist's Federation in Denmark, Member of EuroVelo Council, Denmark

11:00 - 11:15       Discussion

11:15 - 11:35       Is the hospitality industry in Latvia ready for cycling tourists? Juris Smaļinskis, Rural Tourism Association, Latvia

11:35 - 11:50       Discussion

Lunchbreak

From theory to practise

13:00 - 13:20       Tourism signs and road signs. Rein Lepik, “Vänta aga”, European Cycling Federation representative in Estonia

13:20 - 13:35       Discussion

13:35 - 13:55       Cycling tourism development strategy in Netherlands. Martinj Akkerman, Witteveen + Bos, Netherlands

13:55 - 14:10       Discussion

14:10 - 14:30       Technologies and development of maps. Dainis Kreilis, SIA “Maplant”, Latvia

14:30 - 14:45       Discussion

14:45 - 15:05       Velo-city 2017, the Netherlands. Sjors van Duren, Program director, province of Gelderland, member of “Dutch Cycling Embassy”, Netherlands

15:05 – 15:20      Discussion

15:20 – 16:30      Closing statements, informal discussions

Supporters

• Netherlands Embassy in Riga, Latvia
• Nordic Council of Ministers
• Investment and Development Agency of Latvia
• Ltd “Virve”
• Ltd “Velokurjers”