One of the strengths of tourism sector in Estonia and Latvia is cultural heritage, incl. national traditions, handicraft, architecture, cultural events etc.At the same time the main problem of tourism sector in both countries is too similar tourism products. For rural tourism enterprises it’s difficult to compete with larger cities and tourist resorts. One of the ways to differentiate themselves from the cities and to attract more visitors, is to develop tourism services based on national cultural heritage. In particular, foreign tourists (as well domestic tourists) want to use tourism services in rural areas which are unique and provide an opportunity to examine the local culture. Project's main target is to increase the competitiveness of Estonian and Latvian rural tourism businesses through product development and design of tourism services using national cultural heritage. Specific objectives are: 1) Increased awareness, skills and knowledge of rural tourism enterprises in using national cultural heritage in service design. 2) Operating international and local networks established between rural tourism businesses and research / conservation institutions dealing with cultural heritage. 3) Information about project activities and results disseminated to general public, rural tourism businesses, tourism organizations, educational institutions and other tourism related organizations from project area. 4) Estonian and Latvian heritage tourism products introduced to domestic visitors and to tourists from neighbouring countries (Finland, Germany, Russia). WP1 includes activities related to project management and co-ordination, including reporting. WP2 includes following activities: 44 training days for rural tourism businesses;Composing and fully or partly implementing development plans of ca 30 tourism farms in co-operation with experienced architects, designers and tourism consultants; Elaboration and integration of heritage tourism criterias to existing rural tourism quality systems; Producing 4 practical handbooks about using cultural heritage in service design; Arrangement of sample national holiday celebrations. WP3 includes 5 study tours of tourism businesses, experts, consultants and partner organizations to Estonia, Latvia and Finland for exchange of experience and network building. WP4 includes dissemination of information to target groups and general public. It also includes marketing of heritage tourism products developed in framework of WP2 to domestic and foreign tourists, tour operators and tourism organizations using different marketing tools like publications,tourism fairs,fam trips,mass media trips,video clips for internet etc. In the end of the project international rural tourism conference will be arranged in Estonia. Partners will compose joint marketing strategy for further actions for promotion of heritage tourism product in Baltic States and neighbouring countries. Achievements: As the national cultural heritage in Estonia and Latvia are similar, and rural tourism represents an important part of the tourism sector in both countries, the partners of the HERITAGE TOURISM project sought to jointly find common solutions to make rural tourism businesses more attractive in both nations. The project increased the competitiveness of Estonian and Latvian rural tourism businesses through product development and the design of tourism services by focusing on the architecture of buildings, landscape architecture, interior design, preparation and the serving of national food, clothing for service personnel, the celebration of national holidays and events in tourist establishments, and the selling of souvenirs.