Last year, the Lithuanian tourism industry celebrated a 13-percent growth in incoming tourists. Iceland alone had an even better season. Tourism brought in 4.5 billion litas (1.3 billion euros) in revenue. According to Dr Raimonda Balnienė, director of the State Tourism Department, estimates that 2013 should be a good year for tourism as well, albeit with more modest growth.
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| „Ak Bars Aero“ nuotr./Raimonda Balnienė |
Even conservative estimates put the total number of visitors to Lithuania this year at six percent above the 2012 figure.
“So far, we've been doing even better, it is possible that the growth will be eight or 10 percent. That would be fantastic,” she tells 15min.
Lithuania as tourist destination continues to be most popular with Belarusians, Russians, Germans, Poles, and Latvians. Balnienė notes, however, that there have been some changes, too.
“We see not just tourists coming from Moscow Oblast or Kaliningrad, but also many more people from other regions in Russia. Including Saint Petersburg,” Balnienė comments.
The State Tourism Department also expects more tourists from Ukraine, Israel, Scandinavia. Lithuania is also becoming more popular with the British and business tourists. “The drawback, of course, is that we've got only budget airlines servicing these routes. There's also some growth [in tourists numbers from] Japan, China, and the US,” Balnienė says.
Last year, Lithuania was number four among European countries in terms of incoming tourism growth from Japan.
Record year for hotels
According to Statistics Lithuania, hotel occupancy rate in Vilnius were 59 percent last year. Balnienė says that this year, the accommodation sector can expect to break a record with annual occupancy rate projected at 70 percent.
Meanwhile vice-president of the Lithuanian Hotels and Restaurants Association Artūras Vainora is less enthusiastic in his estimates.
“Occupancy rates continue to be high. But they are not higher than last year,” Vainora comments.
Unsurprisingly, he says, occupancy rate is higher in summer – tourists tend to come in spring, summer, and autumn while in winter tourism is on the ebb.
Vainora claims that Lithuania's presidency over the European Union Council (July-December 2013) has had little effect on hotel business in the country: “If occupancy is high, probably people came to presidency events, but other tourism did not come.”
He refuses to speculate on possible trends in the future: “I do not wish to comment on autumn trends. I only want to speak about what is happening now. Here, in Lithuania, they like making a stir. There have been events like Vilnius European Capital of Culture or Eurobasket, when they were panicking that there wouldn't be enough space to accommodate all the guests, while in fact the town was half-empty. So I think the best option is just to wait for hard data. I know that there have been many cancellations from delegations,” Vainora says.
Hotels are most popular with visitors to Lithuania's resorts as well as medical tourists and businesspeople. “We are also benefiting a lot from weekend tourism – people come from neighbouring countries or from places with cheap airline links,” says Balnienė, director of the State Tourism Department.
