Boo Mountain Bike Park Tourism Development NGO
In 2016 Emma and Vaghinak, just a regular cyclist couple from the Armenian capital of Yerevan decided to discover the countryside of Armenia, heading to the North of the country. The Lesser Caucasus mountains with the beautiful landscapes were a great spot to realize a biker’s dream- having proper infrastructure for promoting cycling and helping local small towns and villages to advance tourism. With this goal in mind, they started a startup project named Boo. Boo means owl in Armenian language, which is a very common bird species in the bike park area.
Later in 2017 we registered an NGO for building a community of like minded people and seeking for a partnership and support. With the support of Vanadzor Municipality we rented free of charge land, where we wanted to build public trails, pump tracks, skills park and other services.
At the moment we organize cycling tours in the mountains and around the town. We teach local youth how to become a guide, some basic mechanic skills etc. At the end of the year, we will finish the construction of a small bike center, where we can organize workshops, meetings etc.
The mountain bike park is a new and innovative idea in the whole South Caucasus region. It will help to support tourism, entrepreneurship and promote cycling sports among the youth. With the pump track project we want to build a safe and fun environment for the kids. Unfortunately in Armenia, we do not have special infrastructure for cyclists and for mountain bikers. With the start of the pump track, we will educate local kids, give them free bikes to practice and have fun together. With the development of cycling sports in the region, local small businesses will have a direct and indirect benefit. It will help to create employment, open new guesthouses, restaurants etc.
