On October 22-23, 2021 took place the closing conference of the “Carpathian Starry Sky” project which is implemented and co-financed under the Cross-Border Cooperation Program Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2014-2020, on the basis of the grant contract (project №PLBU.01.02-00-UA-0809/19 -00) between the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy of the Republic of Poland and the NGO "Institute of Development of the Carpathian Region". The venue was ethno-wellness hotel "Ungvarskiy", 29 Elektrozavodska Street, Uzhhorod, Transcarpathian region and mountain tourist shelter "Yavirnyk", Velyky Berezny.
The conference was held for representatives of regional and local authorities and administrations, especially specialists in environmental protection, promotion, tourism and investment, travel agencies, environmental agencies, media, environmental experts, students, educational and research organizations and institutions. For the opening ceremony of the conference the welcoming speeches were made by the invited guests: Head of the Department of Tourism and Resorts of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration Marianna Gotra, Deputy Head of the Department of Euroregional Cooperation of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration Dmytro Miroshnikov, Director of the Department of Economic and Regional Development, Trade, Investment, Implementation of State Programs and Control over Their Implementation Ivan Zavydnyak, Chief Specialist of Preschool, General Secondary and Extracurricular Education of the Department of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of the Regional State Administration Natalia Grab, Mayor of Jedlicze (Poland) Yolanta Urbanik, Chairman of the Lviv Astronomical Society Lyubov Yankiv-Vitkovska, Village Mayor of Velyky Berezny Bohdan Kyrlyk, Chairman of the Stavne Territorial Community Ivan Mandryk, Chairman of the Kostryno Territorial Community Vasyl Cherevka. The conference was attended by participants of the Promo-tour of Stakeholders to Natural Heritage Sites of Podkarpackie Voivodeship and Transcarpathian Region (15 people), organized by Beneficiary 1. Participants of the promo-tour were representatives of regional, local authorities and administrations from Poland, especially on environmental protection , promotion, tourism and investment, travel agencies, environmental agencies, media.
The next stage was the presentation of the project results and activities to the general public by the project partners - the Institute of Development of Carpathian Region (Uzhhorod, Ukraine) - the Lead beneficiary and the Association of Innovation and Technology Transfer “Horizons” (Rzeszow, Poland) - Beneficiary 1. One of the significant achievements of the project is the common strategy «Nature- and astro-tourism development in cross-border area of Poland and Ukraine», which was presented at the closing conference. The involved experts from the Polish and Ukrainian sides shared their vision of the development of the common cross-border area in the future in the field of natural and astro-tourism. The results of the work of experts on light pollution, ecology and astrotourism involved in the project were also presented. Experts from Poland made reports online through the Google Meet platform. The conference featured a screening of promotional films about the Transcarpathian Dark Sky Park and the Bieszczady Starry Sky Park.
On October 23, 2021, the participants visited the Transcarpathian Dark Sky Park, where a new educational tourist route was created within the project and a pilot astro show on the route was held. New educational tourist route "Carpathian Starry Path" will help diversify tourist products in the region, as well as promote astrotourism and recreation. The tourist route is located on the section of the ridge of Mount Yavirnyk and begins near the shelter "Yavirnyk" and ends with the sign of the highest point of the ridge Yavirnyk (1017 m). The route opening program included a display of places for astronomical observations and photography of the nature of the Transcarpathian Dark Sky Park, as well as a passage along the new route. Participants received booklets with the publication of a route map and a rotating map of the starry sky.
In order to promote the created educational tourist route on October 23, a pilot astro show was held on this route. It was held by experts from the project on light pollution and the environment, who conducted research. Special equipment purchased for the route within the project was used for the astro show. Participants of the astro-show measured the brightness of the night sky using the SQM device. Observations of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, the Earth's natural satellite, the Moon, were organized using the Celestron Astro Fi 6, Bresser Messier Dob254 and Arsenal longperng + eq5 telescopes. Participants also took astrophotographs with the Asi120mc-s CCD camera.

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