Client

Republic of Lithuania - State Department of Tourism

Challenge

Following the collapse of communism, Lithuania, along with many other former Soviet client states, identified the potential of tourism to contribute towards national economic development.

Lithuania needed to compete in the same free market for visitors as all other destinations worldwide. This required the role of its foreign tourism offices to be clarified. In 2008 the State Department of Tourism decided to review the effectiveness of Lithuania's tourism functions in its foreign embassies. It also wished to identify what these offices should do in future and where they should be located.

Solution

Working with Yellow Railroad associate Turizmo Pletros Institutas in Vilnius, we began by undertaking a product audit and market analysis in order to understand Lithuania's current situation. This involved:

• assessing what Lithuania offered visitors
• assessing Lithuania's market potential
• identifying Lithuania's key target markets
• identifying Lithuania's competitive positioning

We then:

• assessed the existing activities of Lithuania's tourism offices in its foreign embassies
• outlined the type of activities that these offices should undertake in future
• prioritised these suggested activities in different markets
• identified those countries in which foreign tourism office representation was warranted
• identified other means of market penetration in countries where we felt that full-service foreign tourism office representation was not warranted

Result

• A clear understanding of the opportunities to develop tourism to Lithuania
• Lithuania's international markets prioritised according to their potential
• Clarification of the role for Lithuania's tourism offices in foreign embassies
• A template of marketing activities for the Department of Tourism and Lithuania's foreign tourism offices to use in attracting international visitors
• Recommendations for different forms of representation in different countries