The flow of tourists into Lithuania grew nearly 40% this year,
and there is a noticeable increase in demand for Schengen Visas. This was
announced in an interview to the portal Delfi, by the Lithuanian Ambassador in
the Russian Federation, Renatas Norkus. He also reported that Russians will
soon have the opportunity to apply for a Lithuanian Visa not only in Moscow, St
Petersburg or Kaliningrad, but also in other Russian regions.
“We provide services
to around 600 – 700 people daily in Moscow.
There is the feeling that
we need to increase our presence, which we plan on doing”, - pointed out Mr
Norkus. Before the end of the year, his office plans to switch to a new level
of service, and it is then that that they also plan to spread the locations of their
diplomatic missions – there will be the opportunity to apply for a Visa in
different regions, without the need to personally make the journey out to
Moscow or St Petersburg.
The assessment of the
tour flow into Lithuania
by Russian tour operators basically coincides with data provided by the
Consulate. From
the words of the General Director of the “SatMarket” Company Irina Setun, the
demand for Lithuania has indeed risen with in the 40% mark, and at the same
time, most of those sales consist of “health holidays”. “The balneological
health resort in Druskininkai is quite popular amongst the Russian tourists. In
contrast to its neighbours Latvia and Estonia, the prices here pretty much
haven’t changed since last year. It is possible to holiday and heal here for 46
Euro a day”, - tells us Mrs Setun.
At the same time,
demand for the Lithuanian seaside seems to be growing not as actively as the
market players would desire. According
to different assessments, sales to Palanga have risen only 10% on average, and
there are still vacancies left for August. Mrs Setun assumes that the weather
has had a bit of an impact – the summer was quite a cool one, which had an
effect on the choice amongst tourists.
The General Director
of the “Dialogue” Company, Elena Shushkevich also thinks that sanatorium and
resort holidays remain the leading type of vacation in Lithuania with
our fellow compatriots. In
terms of holidays on the Baltic Sea, Latvia still holds first place with
Russian tourists, Estonia and Lithuania sharing second place in the rating. Mrs
Shushkevich explains such a distribution of the tour flow with the fact that a
major part of the festivals that are popular in our country are held in
Jurmala, and it is also easier to access in terms of transport. “Today there is
only one company that flies to Palanga, and that it ‘Rusline’. There is only
one flight a week, on Sunday. At the same time, the prices are quite high – 24
000 roubles return” – explains the companion of RATA-news. From the words of
Elena Shushkevich, it’s not really convenient of comfortable to travel there by
train, because you have to change over in Vilnus. But on the other hand, you
can save a significant amount of money on the price of the ticket - a trip in a
coupe cabin will set you back around 12000 roubles return.
According to the words
of Marina Motayeva, manager of the company “Zharkov-tour”, the Lithuanian sea
is mostly preferred by families with children. Another plus when choosing a resort here can be the price: a
vacation in Palanga will cost 25-30% less than on the Latvian seaside.
“Combination tours around Latvia are popular with tourists, where they include
visits to Vilnus, Kaunas, Trakai, the Curonian Spit, and also a holiday on the
sea”,- explains the representative of the tour operator. From the words of Mrs
Motayeva, autumn holidays to sanatoriums and resorts are already actively
selling, and also tourists are enquiring about seeing in the New Year in
Lithuania.
