Abstract
Tourism is recognized as one of the most important economic sectors or industries in the world and many countries see tourism as the main instrument for economic and regional development. The paper provides a short theoretical framework for tourism and its role or impact, discussing the definition of tourism and some aspects of the tourism sector. The paper presents results of studies devoted to some issues of tourism development in Latvia. Comparison of some indicators of tourism sector’s development between the Baltic States is presented. The results show that long–term development of Latvia’s tourism sector is less successful than in other Baltic States, particularly in Estonia. The trends of Latvia’s tourism sector development are indicative of recovery from crisis (2008–2009). Besides, opinions and impressions of foreign tourists have been analyzed with an aim to recognize the most important issues hampering the foreign tourists’ flow to Latvia.
Highlights
Tourism is the leading industry in the service sector at the global level as well as a major provider of jobs and a significant generator of foreign exchange at the national level
The most direct effects occur within the primary tourism sectors – accommodation, restaurants, transportation, entertainment, and retail trade etc.; and through secondary effects, tourism affects most sectors of the economy [30, 4]; and causes social and environmental changes [30]
This positive trend or development adversely affects the trend of average length of trip of foreign tourists in Latvia, which has significantly decreased during the period from 2004 to 2010
Summary
Tourism is the leading industry in the service sector at the global level as well as a major provider of jobs and a significant generator of foreign exchange at the national level. Evaluating these results, we could conclude that the trend of increasing the percentage of people spending holidays in Latvia from total number of visitors has a positive influence on development of the tourism sector This positive influence is characterized by using hotels and other places of collective accommodation instead of using the private apartments of friends and relatives, where money for accommodation purposes is not spent. It is important to note that accommodation of tourists (travellers) in the public or collective places of overnight staying has a positive effect on the national and local economy because of the received payments and conjoint taxes This positive trend or development adversely affects the trend of average length of trip of foreign tourists in Latvia, which has significantly decreased during the period from 2004 to 2010. It means that further development of tourism or foreign tourists’ visiting should be dependant on activities of enterprises involved in the tourism sector, but it should depend on activities realized by related branches, municipalities and broader society for creating of favourable environment for foreign travellers and tourists
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