Skopje, 10 August 2021 (MIA) - EU Ambassador David Geer and Veles mayor Ace Kocevski visited on Tuesday the tourist facilities within the sub-project “Smart Lake Mladost, the first innovative tourist attraction in Macedonia.” The project should be completed by August 31. “With the project supported by the EU and administered by the World Bank, an opportunity was given to Veles to develop into a significant transit tourist destination not only in the country but also in the region and to use the potential of the lake which is visited by over two million tourists annually,” Kocevski said. “The project will create new jobs and strengthen the local economy, which is of great importance. It is especially important that the project enabled us to deepen the cooperation with the business sector, the owners of the catering facilities around Lake Mladost who will have great benefits from the project,” Kocevski noted. “Today I am visiting Lake Mladost, and the previous days I visited Dojran, Konce, in Strumica. We are simply convinced of the huge potential tourist offer of the country from the natural beauties and the cultural heritage. By supporting tourism as a sector, we also help the local economy, because through the support of this sector, new jobs are created. It can also be done in a good sensitive way that respects and protects the environment and hence is called as eco-tourism,” EU Ambassador Geer said. Within the framework of the "Local and Regional Competitiveness Project", the EU will invest about EUR 18 million in 50 different sub-projects throughout Macedonia. Some of them are micro-enterprises, some are units of local self-government, as well as civil society organizations in order to develop tourism, and thus to help the economy, Ambassador Geer noted. The goal of the project is to create the first smart tourist attraction in Macedonia by activating the tourist potential of the lake Mladost as a key tourist location in the Corridor 10. The integration of SMART elements as promoters of environmental protection and the utilization of IT for tourist purposes will create the image of the lake as the first SMART tourist attraction with sustainable innovative content that will benefit both tourists and the local economy. The sub-project envisages attracting: domestic tourists, regional tourists, transit tourists, independent active tourists. The sub-project activities include installation of urban equipment for creating the area near the lake Mladost as an eco-camp zone and park on adventures for children.