Day Event to Focus on Greece’s Lake Karla as Ecotourism Hotspot

Finding ways to restore and tap into the potential of Lake Karla, in central Greece, as a primary ecotourism destination will top the agenda of a day event on May 23, at the Rooftile and Brickworks Museum N & S Tsalapatas in the city of Volos.

On the occasion of European Natura 2000 Day on May 21, ecotourism-greece.com and Nature Conservation Consultants (NCC) have teamed up to explore Lake Karla’s prospects as an ecotourism destination and to push for the restoration of the wetland.

The event, which is part of the EU’s ongoing LIFE + Nature and Biodiversity program, aims to inform local tourism professionals about the benefits of ecotourism and bird watching tourism to the local community.

Participants, to include hoteliers, tour operators, local officials and other sector professionals, will be taken on guided tours of Lake Karla.

Located some 300km north of Athens, in the plain of Thessaly, Lake Karla was drained in 1962 to gain land for agriculture, destroying in the process lake fisheries which were an important economic activity. Efforts are now being made by local authorities to restore the lake by reflooding it – a project which would be funded by the EU.