As the TMR company is well aware of the responsibility for the environment and nature of all of us, it has joined and has been supporting the ecological project of “Tatra knights” actively. 198 schools from the territory of Slovakia signed up for the project, 136 of them submitted their competition material (171 school classes of 347 that signed up). Primary and secondary school pupils spent the whole school year making up various useful activities which should help the environment and enhance young people´s ecological awareness. The “Tatra knights” project made them realise that nature is not a disposable item and waste does not disappear on its own, they learned how to behave responsibly and become observant adults who love nature and themselves. The project is all about helping protect the environment and not being indifferent to nature. It had two phases and took place at schools from last year´s October to the end of May.
In the first part, primary and secondary school pupils were joining various ecological activities that were specified in advance and called “Nature to us, we to nature” and “Ecopatrol”. This resulted in interesting visual, audio-visual and documentary pieces of work with different ecological topics. Children went to nature, made their environment look better and nicer, cleaned parks, illegal dumps etc. The second phase of the project is meant to put some of the winning ideas and unique project studies in practice – with help of the TMR company. “In summer, young visitors of our resorts have many possibilities to discover nature in an educational way, e.g. with a family game called Dragon park Chopok, on the playground of the Marmot land in Skalnaté pleso or while wandering around the Tatra Wilderness, during Adventurous weekends and Family days in the Chamois land. Besides that, school-age children can take part in the project of the Tatra knights and enhance their ecological awareness not only during the summer holidays but also during the whole school year. TMR supports good ideas and activities related to the beautiful environment of the Tatras where the smallest knights with the biggest hearts will make all friends, visitors and ecologicallyminded people happy,” said František Šoltis, the head of the Commercial department of TMR.
The first year of the “Tatra knights” project was joined mainly by pupils from the regions of Žilina, Prešov and Košice. Children were focusing mostly on cleaning the areas around their schools. Some schools even renewed bus stops near their premises, cleaned parks, planted flowers, helped restore a home of ground squirrels, made up a unique system of sorting plastic bottles, created an educational notice board and much more. Some pupils plan to continue with ecological patrols also during the summer holidays. 175 visual works of art, 43 audiovisual videos and 17 viable projects were submitted within the category of obligatory competition activities called “Nature to us, we to nature”. “The project helped unite primary, secondary and 8-year secondary general schools for a good cause. Children learned a lot about our natural environment and were provided with basic information and skills that should be a matter-of-course for them. The project of the Tatra knights was very beneficial for the schools as the environmental education is not included in the curriculum,” added Anna Bieliková from the Essence communications agency.
The Slovak Environmental Agency serves as an expert referee of the project, which is supported by the TMR company. TMR is the leader in tourism in Central Europe and focuses not only on achieving success but also taking care of the environment it is active in. This includes support of the above mentioned project and teaching children to behave responsibly as well.
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Tatry mountain resorts, a.s. (TMR) is the leader in tourism in Central and Eastern Europe; it owns and operates attractive mountain resorts, amusement parks, restaurant facilities, sports services, shops and hotels. In the Low Tatras TMR owns and operates the resort Jasná Nízke Tatry and hotels Wellness hotel Grand Jasná, Boutique Hotel Tri Studničky, Chalets Jasná De Luxe, Hotel Srdiečko, and Hotel Rotunda. TMR is also the owner of Aquapark Tatralandia, the largest Slovak aquapark with year-round operation, which besides water entertainment includes Tropical Paradise, a special tropical indoor hall with sea water, as well as Fun Park, and accommodation in bungalows and apartments of Holiday Village Tatralandia. In the High Tatras TMR owns and operates the resort Vysoké Tatry with mountain areas of Tatranská Lomnica, Starý Smokovec, and Štrbské Pleso, which TMR co-manages. In the High Tatras TMR also owns hotels Grandhotel Praha Tatranská Lomnica, Grandhotel Starý Smokovec, Hotel FIS Štrbské Pleso and Mountain hotel Hrebienok. TMR also owns a 9.5 % share in Melida, a.s., which leases and operates the resort Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic. In Poland TMR owns a 97% share in the mountain resort Szczyrkowski Ośrodek Narciarski S.A. (SON), a 75% share in a company that owns and operates Silesian Amusement Park (Śląskie Wesołe Miasteczko) and a 7.3% share in an amusement-educational project via the Polish company Korona Ziemi Sp. z.o.o. TMR also owns and leases hotels Slovakia, Kosodrevina, Liptov and Ski&Fun Záhradky a Bungalovy to third parties. By the end of 2016 EUR 230 mil. had been invested into development and modernisation of TMR’s resorts. TMR shares are traded on three European stock exchanges – in Bratislava, Prague, and Warsaw.