Lithuanian tourists will not be enough: they offer to do the first night free of charge instead of the third.

Žydrė Gavelienė, president of the Lithuanian Chamber of Tourism (LTR), when asked if such a measure would be useful, assured that by itself it would not really help to revive tourism, but proposals and measures are still needed.

“It must be recognized that the situation that has arisen in tourism, when it has already been announced worldwide that tourism is the most affected of all sectors of the economy, then all measures are necessary. I am deeply convinced that such a measure It should apply now and should be slightly modified. I would suggest donating the first night – this offer would actually be much more attractive and would encourage some travelers to come to Lithuania already, when many accommodation places are empty. Second, this measure itself alone will not help revive tourism, “said the interlocutor.

Resting on rural farms is more attractive to Lithuanians

Agnė Vaitkuvienė, president of the Lithuanian Rural Tourism Association, says that Lithuanian houses in Lithuania used to be chosen mainly by Lithuanians themselves, and foreigners make up a fairly small part.

“Calculated based on last year, foreign tourists rested in the Lithuanian countryside and represent around 10 percent. For all vacationers. We see that recreation in the countryside is more suitable for local tourism, but this year is special and we hope have more tourists from neighboring countries. “Tourists from Israel, Germany and our neighbors used to come to our villages, but now we see that this year we will travel between the closest countries and this offer will be useful to detain those people for longer, by less on rural farms, “he explained.

“We have a total figure that, on average, tourists spent two nights on rural tourism farms and came for exactly two nights, including those who came on vacation, those who simply stayed, and those who stayed longer.” added the interlocutor.

However, according to Ž. Gavelienė, the measure proposed by the government would be useful not only for hotels.

“Not necessarily. Tourists live not only in hotels, they also live in rural tourism farms, sanatoriums and other places. Each tourist chooses the place where they want to live according to their profile,” he assured.

More compensation missing

When asked if the Lithuanians would also need similar measures or compensation, A.Vaitkuvienė mentioned a beautiful and good example with the doctors.

“It is a great initiative to compensate doctors for their vacations.” From the point of view of rural tourism farms, we see that these compensations are not limited to legal entities, since rural tourism entrepreneurs are usually private individuals. They are often a family business and provide services under a business license or individual activity. We would like these people to also be included in compensation schemes, ”she says.

According to Ž.Gavelienė, it can be very difficult to attract tourists this summer.

“I think the biggest incentive for Lithuanians to travel is when the trip enriches them with something.” Certainly, some Lithuanians travel for a day, so spending the night could be an incentive, but we must not forget that tourism will not really live alone in the national economy. We need foreign guests, they need to bring money to Lithuania, “he said.

Rest on the farms and for only 7 euros

It is true, according to A.Vaitkuvienė, the situation on rural tourism farms is twofold. Some farms will recover much faster than others. For example, children’s farms or businesses can be very difficult.

Lithuanian rural tourism lives in two ways. The season started early, in March, when many families came up with the idea of ​​not having to quarantine a house or apartment and rent a house. Then there was the first wave when people had just left the cities and looked for farms. Now we see a second wave when people search for vacation spots.

We see on our portal that people search for a week or two, usually in July or August. This sector is really holding up, we’re just seeing a big drop in people’s incomes. People can really spend less on their vacations, and the other part of rural tourism, which usually organized children’s camps, business events, is now in a very bad situation because people are still scared. For example, companies cannot receive foreign teachers, so companies are in a bad situation, it is not known if all the houses will survive, “said A. Vaitkuvienė.

According to her, the prices in different houses also vary greatly. In some it is possible to spend only a few euros. It is true that great comforts are not expected either.

“Rural tourism is good because there is a great selection, in rural tourism we classify farms by storks: basic comfort farms are classified by one or two storks, luxury farms have four and five storks. We can get accommodation in these Basic comfort farms for 7-10 euros per person, that staying in nature by the lake can cost very little, but in luxury houses the prices will definitely be higher, “he said.

“There are wooden houses that are only suitable for life in the summer. There are clean linens, showers, you can really live in these cabins. It is possible to rent kayaks, you can fish and thus spend your free time in nature, ”said the woman about a simple rest in wooden houses.

What awaits the resorts

According to Ž.Gavelienė, it is much more difficult to say what awaits Lithuanian resorts, but to expect Lithuanians to offset tourism costs, there really is no need.

“It would probably be naive to expect that the Lithuanians can compensate.” We can take Klaipeda as an example. Klaipeda is one of the most beautiful cities, the only port that welcomes cruise travelers. Already today we see that there are no cruise travelers in Klaipeda, it is likely that they will not receive them at all this year.

Therefore, it can be said that not only Klaipeda will be affected, but also the surrounding cities, such as Nida, Palanga, where people went on excursions, had lunch, inspected objects. There is no need to really wait for Lithuanians to offset tourism costs. It is necessary to make a great effort to attract tourists “, – assured Ž.Gavelienė.