Lithuania also plans to set up tourism offices in foreign countries, including Japan and the United States, as part of efforts to diversify its tourism markets.
Rasuole Andruliene, head of the Tourism Development Division at the State Tourism Department, says that travelers from neighboring Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and Russia make up 60% of all tourist arrivals in Lithuania and that Russian and Belarusian visitors, whose flows continue to decline, still account for as much as 37% of the country's total tourism revenue.
"Thus, one of the key Lithuanian tourism marketing objectives for the coming years is to diversify tourism markets so as to reduce our dependence on declining markets, Russia and Belarus, as well as on neighboring markets," she told the paper.
According to the official, the department promotes local tourism and seeks to advertise Lithuania in markets with potential for growth.
