This blog post is an analysis of factors that can limit nature-based tourism in Tukums from being widely recognized among the tourist community. These findings are collected based on online research as well as my own observation. Hence, it opens to see more feedback or comments from teachers and other students.
A report in 2018 has shown that 167 tourist sites were registered in the municipality and 355.000 tourists have visited the region (Statistika). Although this number does not put Tukums among the top tourist destinations in Latvia, it still shows many positive signs of developing this industry in the region (Šūmane). However, nature-based tourism in Tukums still needs great effort to mark this industry on the global map. And here are 5 main challenges that I find it important to take into consideration.
1. Inadequate funds from the government
According to the representative of Tukums municipality, one of the biggest challenges to developing the tourism industry is the lack of financial support from the government. Whilst the facilities should have been investigated and instructed to meet the demand of a large number of tourists in the peak season, the amount of funding from the government is likely quite small.
Nowadays, Tukums municipality is making some efforts to attract more entrepreneurs coming to the region to start their businesses. They are trying to conduct many projects calling for funding from different stakeholders. However, this process might still take a while to actually see a clear result.
2. Insufficient of transportation
Visit Tukums has shown clear instructions for getting to Tukums. However, reaching some specific nature destinations in rural areas is still quite limited for those who do not have private cars. Most of the intercity buses or train routes just reach the Tukum center. Public transportation is not available in many nature destinations. A rental car is likely the best (and maybe the only) option if we want to discover different nature-based tourism destinations in the Tukums region.
3. Limitation in speaking common language (English)
As a foreigner and English is the only common language that I can communicate, I find it confusing at some point when most of the instruction and guidance are in Latvian. Despite the effort of inserting 2 or 3 languages in different tourist places, Latvian is still dominant. Additionally, the number of locals speaking English is rare. This leads to the discouragement in attracting more international tourists.
4. Seasonality
The interesting part when encountering nature tourism in Latvia is that it shares the same challenges with the Lapland region: seasonality. According to the municipality representative speech, seasonality is a real challenge not only for the tourism sector. The tourist activities are operated mainly in the summer. This period of time usually starts in June and continues in September (Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre 2023), which is relatively short. In the off-season, most of the tourism facility is closed. Businesses are trying to make some efforts by enlarging the seasons with more activities in late May and early October. However, due to the heavy dependence on the weather, it is still quite an unstable approach.
5. Ineffective marketing
Most of the search engine results from Google lead to the Visit Tukums website, which offers quite enough information related to tourist activities information in Tukums in both languages: English and Latvian. However, in my opinion, the outlook of the website as well as the used images are not so attractive to trigger the demand in tourists. They are also active on social media with 1.200 followers on Instagram and 7.3 followers on Facebook. Compared to other accounts such as Visit Lapland, the interactive rate is still quite low. In Tukums region, the amount of DMOs is quite small. The Tukums tourist information center is likely the most standing out organization for tourists to look for information. From my personal perspective as a tourist, online marketing for the Tukums region is not appealing enough to make a travel decision, even though I really enjoyed the time there.
Those are 5 found challenges from my personal perspective. What about yours? Let me know in the comment section if you want to discuss more about this!
Reference:
Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre. 2023. Climate of Latvia. Accessed on 10 October 2023 https://www.meteo.lv/en/lapas/environment/climate-change/climate-of-latvia/climat-latvia?id=1471.
Statistika: Tukuma tūrisma reģions 2004-2016. Accessed on 10 October 2023 https://visittukums.kartes.lv/download2/491e18dc793a2c34e9247ec8b55524de.pdf_:_Stati stika_Tukuma_turisma_regions_2004_2016_web.pdf.
Šūmane, S. 2018. Snapshot: Expression of urban – Peri urban–rural relationships, Tourism in Tukums. Baltic Studies Center. Accessed on 9 October 2023 https://rural-urban.eu/sites/default/files/S-TUK4%20New%20Tourism%20in%20Tukums.pdf.
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You can find my pre-experience and on-site experience at the Tukums region blogs by clicking on the embed links. Thanks for reading this blog!
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