Tourism and recreation as a driving force for forecasting biodiversity changes: Lake Engure watershed area as an example The aim of the research was to evaluate tourism as a driving force and its pressures in the Lake Engure drainage basin area to forecast the possible long-term changes in biodiversity, in accordance with the DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses) framework, used by European Environment Agency (EEA). A map of the territory, divided into three tourism zones, was charted using secondary data sources, field research data and surveys of holiday-makers. Tourism enterprises and service providers as driving forces and the pressures created were evaluated, and statistical data on capacity of tourist accommodation, a number of people employed in the tourism industry and a number of tourists in the territory were summarised. Owners of summer houses and recreationists were surveyed in regard of their behaviour, the local services offered, the involvement of local municipality in the process and their future plans, and these factors were studied to evaluate the possible impact of second house tourism. The results indicate that tourism and recreation as a driving force is most active in the coastal zone, however, there is not a big tourist flow. In the future the territory will be mainly used for transit tourism, second-home tourism and recreation.
During a time of increasing competition in the tourism sector and growing demand for new tourism products, all stakeholders must more actively utilise non-traditional tourism resources. The film industry certainly counts as one of them. Although film-induced tourism has become quite popular round the world and maintains significant influence, these developments and research into this area have not gained enough attention in Latvia. The objective of this research is to examine the film industry as a tourism resource based on an analysis of the available public information on film production locations, related promotions for tourists in Latvia and the interest and experience of the general public in these types of tourist attractions. The results of the research prove the potential of the film industry, the existence of certain pieces of groundwork and at the same time the moderate interest of potential clients in engaging these resources and adding to Latvia’s tourist turnover.
The tourism information system uniting tourism information providers is one of the important players within the tourism industry both for destination development and for tourists. Since the first tourism information providers in Latvia started operations in 1994 it has been important to evaluate the development of this sector of the overall tourism industry. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyse the achievements and challenges in the development of tourism information providers as part of the tourism information system in Latvia after 1991. For the purposes of reaching the objective of this paper, analysis and interviews with experienced managers of tourism information centres were used as the main research methods. The paper reveals that significant progress has been achieved in this area and tourism information providers have become important players for tourism development in Latvia at all levelsmunicipal, regional and national.
After regaining independence in 1991, various sectors of the tourism industry in Latvia are united in professional associations. They represent various stakeholders of the industry in all processes important for tourism development and are part of the tourism management system of Latvia. So far, there has been no specific research conducted on the role of professional tourism organisations in Latvia. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the achievements and future prospects of the activities performed by the national level professional tourism associations of Latvia. The empirical part of the research is based on the qualitative research methods – document analysis and structured interviews with board members and members of associations, as well as with a senior official at the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Latvia. Research results reveal that the role of those organisations in Latvia is valuable and bring about a positive impact on the tourism industry. Despite the variety of opinions, the majority of interviewees believe that in the course of the next 5 years there will be an increasingly strong influence of associations on the development of tourism in Latvia.
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