Support of the sustainable tourism development
in the Baltic Sea region
by Lidiia Fedchuk
Sustainable tourism
– is a part of tourism industry trying to
provide a low impact on the environment and
local culture.
The Travel and Tourism
in the Green Economy Symposium
Gothenburg, Sweden
14-15 September 2009
Sustainable tourism development
of Baltic Sea Region is provided mainly by:
• UNWTO – United Nation World Tourism Organisation
• ETC – European Travel Commission
• EU – European Union
According to UNWTO
sustainable tourism should:
• make optimal use of environmental resources
• respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities
• ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing
socio-economic benefits
• maintain a high level of tourists’ satisfaction
European Travel Commission
– is a non-profit organisation whose role is to market
and promote tourism to Europe in general, and to their
individual countries in particular.
EU Strategy
of SDT for 2007-2013 is
to make this part of Europe more :
•
Environmentally sustainable (e.g. reducing pollution in the sea);
•
Prosperous (e.g. promoting innovation in small and medium enterprise
•
Accessible and attractive (e.g. better transport links);
•
Safe and secure (e.g. improving accident response)
SWOT analysis
of sustainable tourism development in the Baltic Sea region
Strengths:
• Non-usual climate for many countries (cold, windy)
• Diverse nature and landscape (lakes, islands, cliffs, forests)
• Diverse culture and history (Vikings, Hansa, Brick Gothic, Amber)
• Diverse holiday performance of BSR-tourists
• Numerous initiatives and projects promoting sustainable tourism
• Innovative and creative suppliers for sustainable tourism products
• Promoting and developing an EU regional program
• Common language – English
• Successful environmental polices
• Thematic and geographic co-operation on sustainable tourism
SWOT analysis
of sustainable tourism development in the Baltic Sea region
Weaknesses:
• Short summer season
• Lack of supply chain management
• Poor knowledge of market requirements and customers requests
• Poor visibility of sustainable tourism products
• Partly poor knowledge of employees in the tourism sector regarding
tourism development
• Gap between strategies and practices
• Eutrophication (algae blooms)
• Environmental problems in some areas
• Lack of communications between cultural heritage experts and tourism
• “Cold” mentality (Lack of communication skills important for tourism)
• The lack of tourism and economic education and research
• The lack of professionalism within the tourism industry
SWOT analysis
of sustainable tourism development in the Baltic Sea region
Opportunities:
• Different traditions and methods
• Mapping of resources as a starting point
• Potential for cross-national routes
• Grooving interest and demand in nature and culture tourism
• Increasing customer awareness on sustainability issues
• Development of strategic co-operation
• Usability of IT solutions for STD
• Further development of Baltic Sea cruise tourism
• A development of Baltic Sea World Heritage Tourism (culture tourism)
• Growing importance of tourism for sustainable development
• Improvement of economy
• Model for sustainable development Baltic 21/ Labs for sustainable nature tourism
SWOT analysis
of sustainable tourism development in the Baltic Sea region
Threats:
• Growing competition with destinations outside the BSR
• Increasing expectations of customers
• Environmental problems associated with growth in road, air and sea transport
• Sometimes politicians not seeing the tourism as an industry by majority
of politicians
• Overfishing as a bad example of fishing tourism development
Sustainable Tourism Development
of Baltic Sea Region
Thanks for your
attention!