The report is part of the EU Erasmus + funded project “Mindful tourism services for mentally disordered people” (MindTour). The project aims to promote and support tourism entrepreneurs to value mentally disordered clients and their families as persons and customers and help them design mindful tourism services accessible for mentally disordered people. The project is implemented in cooperation with Estonian, Belgian and Latvian higher education institutions – University of Tartu, Pärnu College (Estonia), Thomas More Mechelen-Antwerpen (Belgium), University of Latvia (Latvia), as well as leisure and tourism service providers - Pärnu Museum (Estonia), Museum Dr Guislain (Belgium) and SIA Zeit Hotel (Latvia). This report reveals the current situation in the use and accessibility of tourism services for people with mental impairment in Latvia. Researchers of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the University of Latvia Agita Lūse, Liene Rācene, Diāna Popova, Nadezhda Pazuhina and Aija van der Steina researched in the autumn and spring semesters of the academic year 2020/2021, using both secondary data sources and gathering primary data through interviews with social service providers and tourism service providers, as well as participant observation and mapping of services, involving people with GRT in the consumption of tourism services.
In 2019, Latvia drafted a National Development Plan [NDP 2027] for the next period, which also comprises actions for the development of the tourism sector. Unlike previous practices, approaches to drafting a common plan and developing and implementing tourism policy have changed significantly.The aim of the research is to describe the process of developing a tourism development plan, analyse the use of the latest planning and policy implementation approaches and evaluate the framework of the plan.A qualitative research strategy - a case study was used. The main research methods are document analysis, in-depth interviews and participatory observations.The process of drafting a new tourism policy and action plan, its main stages, tasks, methods, key stakeholders and discussions and the various documents elaborated has been summarized as a result of the research. The main problems related to the implementation of a bottom-up collaborative approach - lack of competencies of individual stakeholders, dominance of municipal interests, conviction that problems can only be solved from above, centrally, using state budget resources - have been identified.The document analysis shows that the tourism policy document drafted differs significantly from previous documents. It incorporates the need for collaboration between tourism destinations, local municipal organizations and defines productivity as a transversal criterion for action.
Growth in the last decade was characterized by economic, social and spatial shrinking. This phenomenon is observed in many Western and post-Soviet countries, including Latvia. The aim of the study is to examine if and how the concept of population shrinkage is represented in Latvian rural areas. Theoretical concepts used in the study are based on a review of the literature. Empirical research is carried out in seven localities of the former Aluksne, Balvi and Gulbene districts in northeastern Latvia by interviewing local government employees and analysing statistical data and policy documents. The investigation results suggest that Latvian rural areas can be defined as typical shrinking areas. Spatial shrinking is wider concept that has impact on almost all Latvian places, both in rural and urban territories. This process requires a changes in attitude among decision-makers in both state and regional government. The scarcity and incompleteness of available data is reflective of the realities of regional policy implementation. Rural spatial development is connected to changes of economic, social and cultural linkages, rescaling, and socio-economic structural changes. Shrinkage processes have an impact on rural social capital. Shrinking requires the need for a set of innovative; knowledge-, evidence-and place-based; coordinated; pro-active; multi-disciplinary; spatial; economic and socially-targeted policy measures.
Research into tourism, a relatively new discipline, is developing, using theories and approaches from other disciplines. Extensive research is underway in Latvia on sites related to tragic historical events and death, including the use of Holocaust sites in tourism. In order to comprehensively study these dark heritage sites, previous studies related to cemeteries and death sites have been analysed. The aim of this article is to identify death sites as special places and as elements of the cultural landscape. The attitude of locals towards dark heritage sites cannot be understood without understanding the attitude towards death sites and cemeteries in the cultural context. This article gives an overview of existing research in necrography, summarising the geographical approaches used to characterise these particular sites. The studies already conducted in Latvia have been reviewed and the most relevant definitions of dark tourism and thanatourism have been identified. The main problems faced in including places of death and tragedy in tourism product promotions have been described, especially if they are related to tragic events such as the Holocaust. In conclusion, the main aspects and approaches to be used for further research into the use of Holocaust sites in tourism have been identified.
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