In January 2015 the Centre for Social and Business Initiative (CSBI) in Yaremche asked the Agency for Private Initiative Development to assess the viability of the business idea of new tourist experience in Yaremche – the Museum of historic, cultural and natural heritage of the Ukrainian Carpathians but … in miniature. Together with our experts, they carried out all the necessary actions for the launch of this business idea.  

Taking advantage of our services, the authors of the idea created the concept of the ‘Carpathians in Miniature’ park museum; studied the experiences of the similar entertainment parks in Europe; developed a business plan and a work schedule; conducted a promotion campaign for its effective launch.

Thus, a new tourist attraction came into being in the town of Yaremche on the territory of the Carpathian National Nature Park. It became an organic complement to other sights in Yaremche and the Carpathians, and at the same time a must visit place in the region. The confidence in the success of the idea also came from the fact that similar parks of historic and natural miniatures were and are very popular in Europe, attracting tourists of various ages and providing an additional reason for visitors to come to a certain area. Since entertainment parks have always been very popular with tourists, the idea of the ‘Carpathians in Miniature’ park museum gained support from the stakeholders, which made it possible to find the resources and start the process of creating this attraction.

The next step was to fill the recreational site with the most famous architectural and natural monuments of the Ukrainian Carpathians and Yaremche District. The ‘Carpathians in Miniature’ park museum was opened on July 21, 2015 as an ecological open-air museum exhibiting famous items of cultural heritage, architectural monuments or interesting natural objects in the form of scaled-down copies (usually on a scale of 1:25). The well-known buildings, temples and natural monuments are scaled down 25 times but look very realistic. Then the museum operator organized paid excursion services on the territory of the park to reach the desired return on investments and bring additional revenues to the Carpathian National Nature Park in the form of recreational fees.

According to the CSBI Director Yurii Karpin, the ‘Carpathians in Miniature’ park museum for only one year has been visited by about 23 thousand tourists and guests of Yaremche. Many of them came from Poland, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Israel, the Czech Republic and other countries. The site is often visited by corporate groups, participants of local training events and official delegations. The park is a perfect visual asset for the lessons of history and literature of the native land, a place for exclusive photo sessions and reportages. By the way, it is one of the few sights in the region accessible for handicapped visitors. Within one year of work the park museum has generated about UAH 9,000 of tax payments to the local budget. Besides, the Carpathian National Nature Park has received UAH 30,000 of recreational fees. In the nearest future, the number of exhibits in the park is going to increase, which will create even more favourable conditions for the improvement of recognition of Yaremche District as a tourist destination.