2024-07-21 08:03:14
– How did the geography of tourists coming to Lithuania change after the start of the war?
– First of all, we no longer have a Russian-speaking market, that is, citizens of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. There are significantly fewer people coming to Lithuania from these countries, and those who do are often not tourists, but refugees who leave their country for one reason or another. So, we can say that we lost this flow completely, and before the pandemic, tourists from these countries accounted for more than half of the total flow of people arriving in Lithuania.
The rest, that is, about 40 percent. consisted of Poland, Latvia, Germany and the United Kingdom.
I would positively assess the growth of the market of tourists coming from neighboring Poland and Latvia, they have the potential to grow even more. I would rate Germany less positively, because the flow of tourists from this country fell – in 2019. about 12% came to Lithuania from this country, last year – only 9%.
So far, we do not hear any news from the German market, because the Germans, having assessed the situation in the Baltic countries, are choosing other directions. Sun and warmth are also important to them, and in Lithuania these two factors are difficult to predict. The latest trends also show that Germans are very sensitive to increased necessary expenses.
Therefore, after evaluating all the listed factors, we do not expect the flow from Germany to increase this year. Compared to 2019, the flow of tourists from Estonia also decreased last year.
– Did the economic situation also make matters worse?
– I think that the economic motive is common in all countries: both in Lithuania and elsewhere.
At a meeting of tourism associations of the Baltic countries that took place a few months ago, two reasons were named why travelers are buying trips later: first, people want to make sure that the geopolitical situation is not changing.
The second reason is that it monitors the expenses that will be needed to ensure the basic necessities of life. If it remains for the trip, only then does it become interested and buy. Such trends are observed throughout the European Union.
– This was determined by the increase in prices?
– We have seen price growth in all areas, including tourism. After the pandemic, the demand for travel was very high, and at the same time, the prices also increased. This year, that growth is already slower, but remains around 5-10 percent.
Another trend is that some price-sensitive travelers choose to travel outside the European Union, because the costs are much lower there. These are Montenegro, Turkey, other countries. Europe, with its prices, is no longer biting for the more sensitive economic class.
After all, in Lithuania, it is also common for a resident to evaluate how much a vacation costs here, and choose to go on vacation abroad. In our country, there is no such complexity, where the sun would always shine by the sea, and hotels would have many services and the like, we cannot offer such luxury.
It is true that Lithuanians prefer to spend a weekend or a short vacation of a few days here or in the surrounding countries, but for a longer period they fly somewhere else.
– What about US tourists? Their EU travel countries are becoming more popular, are they discovering Lithuania?
– To be very honest, we do not have accurate statistics on how many tourists from the USA there are in Lithuania, because we must not forget that US military brigades are stationed in our country.
If we look only at the numbers and do not think about the nature of the tourist, that is, whether he came to see the country, to visit something, or for military reasons, then the growth is quite significant, the general feeling also includes that there are more arrivals from the USA.
However, this is not a large number – the total population of this country in Lithuania in 2019. accounted for about 4 percent of total tourist flow, we had a little more last year.
– What do people come to Lithuania to see?
– There are three types of tourists. The first is city break, that is, travelers who fly in for short trips, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants and enjoy entertainment. The main city that attracts such people in Lithuania is Vilnius, and we especially see that during events. A great example would be Šaltibarščiai festival, but there are few such events. Vilnius can accommodate significantly more tourists than it does now, so such celebrations should be held much more often.
The second type of tourists are those who travel throughout our region, that is, the Baltic countries and sometimes connect Poland or Finland. Unfortunately, compared to 2019, only 20% returned to Lithuania last year. of the traffic we had before the pandemic. This year, the number is likely to grow, but not exponentially. This is a very big loss.
The last group is travelers who come for certain interests, for example, they go to visit estates, to get healthy, and so on. It often happens that the expectations of such people are greatly exceeded in our country: both our spas, theaters, and the opportunity to get to know small towns are highly valued.
However, we don’t see any changes, so that some new attractions have appeared in the country, which is quite sad. We see that the Nordic countries are increasingly being chosen by tourists from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries in the region. Residents who came from there would really like to vacation in Lithuania.
We are not using our potential, and there are several reasons for this: the first is that Lithuania’s tourism marketing budget is inadequately small compared to other countries. The second thing is that after the change in the geopolitical situation and the loss of Russian-speaking tourists, we did not allocate additional human resources to the “Travel in Lithuania” organization, which is responsible for marketing the country’s tourism, so that it could attract other markets.
– You said that only 20% returned to our region after the pandemic in 2023. of tourists traveling through the region. Why? Are we no longer attractive?
– In order for such trips to be successful, they need to be planned in advance, already 6-9 months in advance. word begins to spread that such a trip will take place. And we have already said that people do not plan their trips so early anymore due to the geopolitical and economic situation. The lack of market awareness of our region also forces foreigners to choose other countries.
– It can be said that we ourselves do not announce ourselves to the world and do not tell them that it is really possible to come here and see something?
– Really so. In new markets, for example, UAE, Israel or elsewhere, there is no news about us, our country is promoted only by individual tour operators, and it should be understood that individual forces will not really bring results.
We shout very loudly that we are helping Ukraine, I emphasize that this is very important, and we must continue to do so. But we forget to mention that it is safe and beautiful here.
It would be very wonderful if all state officials started talking positively about Lithuania. We have to remember that often investors first come to the country to find out if there is an opportunity to create a business here, and only then make such a decision. We are not really using our potential.
– What influence does tourism have on Lithuania’s budget?
– Tourism is the export of services, that is, foreigners come and spend money in our country. During the first quarter of 2024, we observed 24 percent. growth of service exports. This sector makes up a very important part of the revenues flowing into the budget, so with a greater flow of tourists in Lithuania, those revenues would be even higher.
And it does not require a lot of investment. This year, the budget of “Travel in Lithuania” is 5 million. euros, we would need the same amount and we could already have a tangible result.
2024-07-21 08:03:14