Tourism

As part of the LIFE-ZEPAURBAN project we have created in Extremadura a tourist product related to the lesser kestrel which we have called URBAN BIRDING as a further tool to encourage the conservation of the species.

The minister for Ecological Transition and Sustainability of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Olga García, has inaugurated the VIII International Congress online on the conservation of the lesser kestrel, appealing for awareness in all sectors so as to continue working for the conservation of the species. She has stressed as an example of what can be done the achievements of recent years with the LIFE-ZEPAURBAN project on "Urban ZEPA Management in Extremadura", of which this congress is one of the final events.

It is our pleasure to extend to you an invitation to the virtual presentation of our LIFE-ZEPAURBAN project this week on the Extremadura stand of the International Tourism Fair (Feria Internacional de TURismo, FITUR 2021) in Madrid, to be precise on Friday 21st May at 11:00 h courtesy of the director generals of the Sustainability and Tourism Departments of the Regional Government of Extremadura.

The Life-ZEPAURBAN project hopes to see you at the 2021 virtual International Birdwatching Fair (Feria Internacional de Turismo Ornitológico, 2021); we will be delighted to welcome you to the European project stand of the Tourist Department and the stand of the Regional Ministry for Ecological Transition and Sustainability. There we will be able to give you all the updated information on the project and will present the new material which has been published.

The tourist offices of Cáceres, Jerez de los Caballeros, Plasencia, Trujillo, and Zafra will soon have new promotional material as part of the Life-ZEPAURBAN project, the result of the work carried out by our Laruinagráfica partners and the Tourist Department for the E5 action of the project. This material takes the form of street maps so the visitor can go on a self-guided tour and get to know at the same time the main monumental and ornithological heritage of each of these five towns.

One of the nests of the LIFE-ZEPAURBAN Project installed at the San Mateo Church in the urban SPA of the town of Alburquerque (Badajoz) has been occupied by a female lesser kestrel that was released in June 2018 at the El Millarón estate of Valencia de Alcántara (Cáceres) -- about 30 km in a straight line to the northwest of Alburquerque.

The General Directorate of Tourism of the Regional Government of Extremadura will undertake, during the last quarter of 2019, the consolidation phase of the urban ornithological tourism initiative known as Urban Birding, whose protagonist is the lesser kestrel -- the only bird of prey that nests in colonies in urban centers, mainly in historical buildings.

URBAN BIRDING is the name of the tourist product that has been created in Extremadura (under the Life ZEPAURBAN Project, funded by Europe) with the lesser kestrel and other urban birds in mind.

The General Directorate of Tourism, as a partner of the LIFE ZEPAURBAN Project in its commitment to strengthening the “URBAN BIRDING” Product, has provided all its members with various materials for the theming of their establishments.

"URBAN BIRDING" is an urban ornithological tourism product that is based on the development of activities that generate local economic wealth around the observation of the lesser kestrel in five Extremaduran towns: Cáceres, Jerez, Plasencia, Trujillo, and Zafra.