Development of rural tourism in Lithuania

Abstract

Lithuanian geopolitical surrounding, abundance of tourism resources makes a
favorable condition for development of rural tourism. During the last decade amount
of households involved in rural tourism increase 6 times – from 67 households in
1999 to 398 households in 2005. Rural tourism attracts more and more peoples – in
year 2005 the were 155 thousands visitors, of which 17.9 thousands foreign people –
it is 2 times more than in 2003.
In the article authors studying rural tourism development problems and most
significant presumptions for it, analyze factors, determining competitiveness and
popularity of rural tourism. Aim of research: to formulate directions of rural tourism
development and to suppose means for intensifying rural tourism services.
Research showed, that most significant problems for rural tourism development
is lack of information, scarcity of finance resources, uncertainty of services quality,
undeveloped rural tourism infrastructure. It is recommended these most important
directions for rural tourism development – to activate attraction of capital, to pay
more attention to services assortment and quality, to develop infrastructure in country
side.