Entrepreneurs in Palanga are suffering greatly from the loss of Russian and Belarusian tourists: they spent entirely different amounts than Lithuanians

We will lose many tourists

According to data from the Statistics Department, in 2018 the number of overnight stays by foreigners in Lithuania amounted to 2.8 million. It is estimated that tourists in Lithuania spent 944.5 million euros in 2018. The average cost of a tourist trip in 2018 was 338 euros. In 2018, more than 443 thousand Belarusians and 286.2 thousand Russians visited Lithuania. However, this touch of money has been activated: resort managers are at the mercy of the Lithuanians.

How Delphi I. Valaitienė, the head of the Palanga Hotel and Restaurant Association, says that the entrepreneurs working in the catering and accommodation field in Palanga place hope in the Lithuanians. “Knowing that we will receive significantly fewer foreign tourists this season due to the pandemic, we put more hope in the local guests, the Lithuanians.” And it is clear to neighboring countries: Latvia, Estonia, the countries whose borders have already been opened, “says I. Valaitienė.

According to their data, 80 percent. There are Lithuanians who visit Palanga. I. Valaitienė says that it is concluded that Lithuanians will be afraid and will choose to spend their holidays in Lithuania, which will mean more Lithuanian tourists on farms and resorts than before.

However, the representative of the businessmen admits that the fact that the guests from the east do not come is sad. “The basket of these guest services was really valuable, they left many of their expenses with us. We generated a lot of income from them. But it will not do anything, this is the situation, we have already got used to and reconciled with that idea during the months of Quarantine. To this day, we realize and are used to the fact that there will be none or very few of those guests. Already in the midst of quarantine, realizing this, it was necessary to prepare a Plan B: who will be our guest now , how to compete now with the rest of the cities, with our colleagues. In fact, to prepare another plan. The entrepreneurs did it, “says I. Valaitienė.

I spent a lot of money

She points out that tourists from Belarus and Russia received little, but they spent a lot of money. “First of all, the length of their stay is always longer than that of the Lithuanians.” They like to walk around restaurants, cafes. They like shopping, women like to pamper themselves with beauty, spa treatments. This is a client who really sees that he is on vacation and allows himself to spend, ”says the expert.

Rasa Kmitienė, director of the Palanga Tourist Information Center, says tourists from Russia and Belarus made up the majority of the visitors to the tourism center and city of Palanga. According to her, the citizens of these countries have always been in the TOP 5 of incoming tourists and these tourists, she says, are happy to choose paid excursions and want to get to know Lithuania.

“Now we are really receiving your inquiries when it will be possible to come to Palanga. But it is not up to us. It depends on other circumstances and we cannot say what this year will be like,” says R. Kmitienė.

She agrees that it will be necessary to try to fill the void of foreign tourists by attracting Lithuanians. “We hope to fill the shortage of foreigners with Lithuanians. That hope of faith is also given by the current situation in the state. It is recommended to travel through your country, not to go to a foreign country. There are, so to speak, preconditions to fill that In fact, there is such an observation that we get many visitors to the resort who are Latvian or Estonian and are actually traveling. We may also thirst for trips you can go with your car. Lithuanians will probably go to Latvia, Estonia or Poland, and we hope that the citizens of those countries will visit us, ”says R. Kmitienė.

Lithuanians are complex customers

However, Lithuanians are complex clients. According to I. Valaitienė, Lithuanians, unlike foreign tourists, plan their vacations at the last minute. Unfortunately, quarantine has not changed that trait. We only see reservations a week ahead. This means that reservations are available for this weekend and next. And also not very, there are units that are reserved. There are questions, interests, but don’t make reservations: people look, scan the market, examine the offers. It is a shame because the hotels, due to the loss of foreign guests, have to work only with Lithuanians and do not even have a large guaranteed order flow, they cannot plan their sales in advance. It’s a shame, but we are losing this season ”, says I. Vailaitienė.

But he adds that companies must be flexible. For example, hosting providers now do not necessarily have to prepay for hosting. This is part B of the plan. The head of the association says that not all companies do this, but some actually had to turn their heads during quarantine and think about what to offer customers or how to deal with staff: hire more or take no risks.

“Although, as we know, the employees returned to us one by one from the downtime. There was no need or massive reception of temporary workers. Everyone had to rethink and prepare a plan from: from the beginning after the quarantine to rethinking the season: when can there be a peak, how many of those employees will there be, “says I. Valaitienė.