Asnate Ziemele

1
Baltic Country Holidays Success Factors from
Latvia

• Asnate Ziemele
• Latvian Country Tourism Association
  Lauku celotajs

2
Latvian Country Tourism Association
Legal form NGO (owns a Ltd. company for
commercial activities) Founded 1993 Members
300 (rural tourism entrepreneurs) Staff 10

• Tasks
• RT product development
• Quality control and labelling
• Povider training and consultations
• Promotion and marketing (brochures, maps,
  Internet)
• Lobbying for interests of members

3
RT product development

• 1990
• Collective farms fall apart, private farms
  develop
• Farmers seek for extra income offer free rooms
  to tourists

• 1993 - Foundation of the Association - organized
  development of RT starts
• Database
• Quality system and inspection
• Promotion
• Reservation office

4
1993-1996 2 accommodation types establish

• BB (serviced accommodation)
• Accommodation in providers house, sharing WC and
  shower
• No big investments in furniture and equipment
• Provider family resources used for tourists

• Cottages (self-catering)
• Operating mostly in summer season (no heating)
• Modest furnishing

5
1997 ? EU and National subsidies available

• BB
• Repairs and renovations, new constructions
• Separate WC and entrance for guests
• Attention to furniture and equipment

• Cottages
• New constructions answering the customer
  demand of privacy
• Heating, well equipped kitchen

• Party facilities
• For private parties, weddings, company outings
• 1-2 rooms for partying, few bedrooms with many
  beds, sauna

6
Number of accommodations and beds(1994-2005)
Source LC database
7
Rural tourism in 2005 Source provider review
and LC database

• Tourists spent 325.330 bednights
• Average occupation rate 17 (-2)
• 70 of the number of tourists stayed in the
  country in summer months
• Average length of stay
• domestic tourists 1,4 d/n (2004 - 1,28 d/n)
• foreign tourists 3,25 d/n (2004 - 2,73 d/n)
• Tourist spendings in RT accommodations (LC
  database) 7 milj. Ls. (26).

8
2000 ? RT is not just a bed
9
RT is not just a bedcustomer review results
10
Green Certificate

• Environment is the main selling point
• of Rural Tourism
• Green Certificate eco-label
• Green Holidays brand
• Changing the way of thinking of providers and
  customers towards environmental sustainability

11
Green Holidays Brand
Tourists

• Clean rural environment
• Traditional farms, natural materials
• Activities in nature
• Ecologically clean, local food
• Information about things to see
• Celebration of traditional holidays
• Play areas and pets for the children
• High-quality tourism services

12
Local community benefits supplying customer demand
Local industry
Info services
Craft shops
Restaurants
Stocked ponds,etc.
Activity facilities
13
Countryside Bounty opening the countryside to
visitors

• Agricultural farms small scale farms growing
  crops, vegetables, fruit, animal breeding,
  poultry
• Fishing - stocked ponds for commercial
  finishing, crayfish, sea fishing, fish farming
• Crafts traditional and modern hand made
  products pottery, weaving, furniture
• Catering small restaurants, shops, country
  pubs offering local, traditional food
• Self-sustained and health farms showing
  traditional rural lifestyle, promoting ancient
  health tradition sauna, herbs, believes, bio
  farms
• Food production small-scale food production,
  using locally grown or made ingredients, local
  recipes

14
Countryside BountyA beekeeper

• tour of the apiary
• observe bees in a hive with a glass wall
• a beekeeping history room
• purchase honey
• purchase bees

15
Countryside BountyCheese maker at Eleja village

• former bakery
• a French, making soft cheese from local
  products
• one of the new varieties called Elejas
  cheese
• a tour of the facility
• cheese tasting, sales outlet

16
Countryside Bountyrabbit and fowl breeder

• 300 rabbits for breeding and food
• guinea fowls, peacocks, ducks, geese, quail
• eggs available for sail

17
Review on sustainable rural tourism development
in Latvia

• inventory of the current situation and negative
  impacts
• recommendations for actions to prevent / reduce
  the negative environmental, economic and social
  aspects at all stakeholder levels
• presented at the national RT conference on
  February 3, 2006 (400
• participants) konferences

18
Incoming tourists in 1996-2004

• Is it enough to celebrate the growing numbers of
  tourists?
• Consider the quality behavior, attitudes of
  tourists and their purpose of travelling

19
Spendings of incoming tourists

• Total spendings in mil. LVL (source Central
  Board of Statistics)

• Spendings per person lower that in the
  beginning of the decade

20
Explanation?

• Growing numbers of tourists in transit no
  overnight stays in Latvia
• High and still increasing price levels in the
  Baltic countries
• Drawbacks of infrastructure (roads, signposting,,
  services)
• Tourists using local natural resources and
  infrastructure without buying products/services
  (arriving with own food, equipment)
• Is it sustainable?

21
Benefits from rapid tourism development in rural
areas
22
Problems from rapid tourism development in rural
areas
23
How to achieve balance between economic
development and environment protection?
or
24
Whats in the hands of stakeholders in rural
areas?

• To protect nature and biological diversity is
  sometimes enough to use simple, inexpensive and
  generally accessible means and tools

25
Environment protection

• Maintenance or even increase of biological
  diversity (species) in the given territory

• Infrastructure in sensitive and highly touristic
  sites

26
Environment protection

• Rest stops for tourists with bonfire places,
  benches, waste bins, etc.

• Directing tourist flow (also tourists protected
  from being a crowd)

27
Protection of biological diversity

• Do not advertise sensitive and easily destroyable
  natural values (biotopes)

• Do not advertise / do not incorporate in tourism
  product protected and rare species

28
Environment friendly information

• Environment friendly behaviour codes on signposts

• Develop routes and nature trails, keeping in mind
  nature protection

29
Environment friendly and well considered tourist
activities

• Bird watching

• Nature guides

30
think outside the limits of project deadlines!
31

• What is behind of rural tourism success in Latvia
  
• or
• rural tourism golden resources

32
1. Nature, biological diversity
33
2. Rural landscape, environment
34
3. Rural people, their occupations
35
4. Country food
36
5. Traditions
37
6. Diverse cultural heritage
38
RT products based on golden resources
39
RT products based on golden resources
40
Thank you for attention! www.celotajs.lv
Latvian Country Tourism Association Lauku
celotajs Kugu str. 11, Riga, Latvia Tel. 371
7617600, Fax [phone], e-mail
lauku_at_celotajs.lv