Study-Of-Konche-Municipality.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Goals of the Study .................................................................................................................................... 2 Basic information about the Municipality of Konche ................................................................................. 4 Natural attractions of the municipality of Konche ................................................................................. 7 Flora and Fauna ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Flora .................................................................................................................................................... 11 Authentic crops and products ............................................................................................................ 12 Fauna .................................................................................................................................................. 12 Rare water invertebrates in the Mantovo reservoir ......................................................................... 13 Cultural attractiveness of the municipality of Konche ............................................................................. 14 Monuments of Christian culture ............................................................................................................ 14 Culture monuments on the territory of Konche municipality .......................................................... 14 The monastery and church St. Stephen in the village of Konche ..................................................... 14 Katarina Kantakuzina Brankovikj ....................................................................................................... 18 Other Christian places of worship and calendar of events ............................................................... 19 Islamic culture monuments ................................................................................................................... 22 The village mosque in Konche ........................................................................................................... 22 The ottoman “turbe” (tomb) near the villages of Dedino and Konche ............................................ 22 Archaeological sites on the territory of Konche Municipality .............................................................. 26 Villages in the municipality ........................................................................................................................ 30 Other attractions .................................................................................................................................... 34 Tree house – Konechka mountain ..................................................................................................... 34 Fountains ............................................................................................................................................ 34 Memorial landmarks .......................................................................................................................... 34 Handicraft ................................................................................................................................................... 35 Folklore societies ........................................................................................................................................ 36 Gastronomy ................................................................................................................................................ 37 Conclusions and recommendations ........................................................................................................... 40 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................. 40 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................. 41 Rural tourism .......................................................................................................................................... 44 Municipality of Konche in publications - bibliographic list ....................................................................... 46 Photo Gallery .............................................................................................................................................. 47 Introductory notes Introduction The territory of the municipality of Konche, following its location and the great number of natural and created values it has, has a solid foundation for touristic development and becoming an interesting tourist destination. The municipality has a strong potential for developing an authentic recreational, alternative, rural and religious-monastery tourism though, unfortunately there is no organized effort and mobilized infrastructure for presenting this potential and for providing services in these fields. This potential has also been taken into account in the old municipal strategy and in the data of the current Programme for development of the South-East Planning Region. In these documents, the tourism is part of the economic sector-services which should contribute to the economic development of the municipality. However, at the time of the preparation of this study, the tourism does not participate in the overall economic development as there is still no tourist activity on the territory of the municipality. In this context, the municipality lacks studies and strategic documents which will provide knowledge and a database of the potentials for tourism development in order for it to be institutionalized and become an important economic sector. However, it is important to be noted here that in the last few years the tourism has been recognized by the Municipality as an economic activity with a great potential. This has been confirmed by the great number of initiatives and projects in the tourism sector which have been implemented in the municipality in various degrees. As stated above, the tourism has been identified as a strategic middle-term goal of the Programme for development of this region – as a Strategic goal 2 – Sustainable development of the tourism and culture in the region. The tourism is part of the economic service sector which contributes to the increase of the regional GDP, but if we take into account that the service sector is much wider, it could be concluded that the tourism in this region does not contribute to the overall economic development of the Region in accordance with its potential. Having in mind the present condition of this economic sector as well as the modern European and world tourism trends, the focus of the region and the municipality should be directed towards creating conditions for articulated, organized and integrated presentation of the local natural attractions and the cultural and historic heritage with a single goal of getting the interest of the home middle class tourists - tourists that show greater and clearly defined interest for this type of tourism but also the interest of tourists from the neighborhood and the wider region. Support for such efforts would be provided by the institutions at national level because the tourism, together with the agriculture and the rural development, has been identified by the Government as one of the priority sectors for development in the Republic of Macedonia. This has been confirmed and defined in the National strategy for tourism development in the Republic of Macedonia (2009-2013) and in the Global study on tourism in the Republic of Macedonia. The goal of this Study is to research and present the importance of this industry’s development for the economic growth of the municipality, to identify and recommend models for tourism development to the relevant stakeholders and interested potential investors which are in accordance with the present situation and the potential of the resources present. 1 The preparation of the Study for tourism development potentials’ state is part of the project “Enhancing the tourism potential of the municipalities of Kyustendil and Konche- A sustainable Joint Future”. This is a partner project of the municipalities of Kyustendil and Konche and is being implemented within the INTERREG - IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Bulgaria 2014-2020. Goals of the Study The Study, as a foundational and important document which points out the potentials and opportunities for the touristic development of this region, has many goals. The main goal is to analyze, inventory and valorize tourist resources in the municipality from a touristic aspect. The municipality has numerous resources but not all suitable for touristic purposes. From those with a potential not all could be used in the initial activities for creating conditions for tourism development due to the actual situation in the municipality in which there is no touristic economic activity. This action should provide differentiation and identification of those resources that have a fitting attractive potential, have a transport connection and allow an execution of appropriate activities. As a second but equally