ICT and e-business in the tourism industry ICT adoption ... - empirica

Tourism
economic difficulties at the time due to the regional economic recession in the period of
1997-1999.
The LCTA is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) representing farm-stay tourism in
Lithuania. In April 2006 the NGO had 1,015 members (in 1997 only 17), which not only
included farm-stay owners, but also training institutes (i.e. universities), local
municipalities and individual experts working in the field of rural tourism. However, the
organisation does not include all the farm stay owners in the country (approximately 350
out of 500 in 2006).
Among its services the NGO offers farm stay certificates, farm-stay branding with
patented quality labels, farm-stay inclusion in the search engine, training schemes and
other benefits in return of the sign-up for membership (145 euros) and a yearly
membership fee (from 17 euros to 86 euros). The LCTA is financed from membership
fees, public funds, online advertisements and, occasionally, from various EU funds. The
latter, however, are more difficult to acquire since Lithuania’s EU accession in 2004. The
main barrier to participate is the requirement for co-financing of structural funds projects.
Strategically the LCTA hopes that farm-stay tourism in Lithuania will benefit from southnorth
(Germany, Holland to Baltic States) and north-south (Scandinavia to Baltic States)
tourism flows. Since 2001 tourist arrivals in the sector have tripled. Naturally the biggest
competition is seen from farm-stays in Latvia, Estonia (600 farm-stays) and Poland.
Exhibit 4-4: Farm-stay tourist arrivals in Lithuania
Year
Farm-stay arrivals
(in thousands)
% of foreigners
2001 72 -
2002 120 3%
2003 164 10%
2004 167 12%
2005 215 18%
Sources: Interviews with Regina Sirusienė, April 11 th , 2006, Brussels-Kaunas and with Valentina
Duškina (UAB "Rodiklis"), April 19 th , 2006, Brussels; Articles from: Verslo Banga (online business
portal; 2005-12-10), Takas (online business portal; 2006-04-08), Lithuania in the World (online
magazine about Lithuania; vol. 11, nr. 3, 2003)
e-Business tool
According to Klaus Ehrlich (President of the European Federation of Farm and Village
Tourism) most rural tourists in Europe ranked the possibilities of online reservation,
security and an impressive nature as the most desirable options in farm-stay vacations
(UNWTO Conference on: “Impact of the European Union Enlargement on tourism
development in Europe”, Vilnius, Lithuania, 1-2 March 2006).
In 2003 LTCA launched an online search engine system on its own website
(www.countryside.lt). The search options allow users to choose farm-stay
accommodation according to various options, quality labels and to-do activities within
50km radius. The database is constantly updated with new information on prices,
promotions and new farm-stays. The main expectation is that the search system will allow
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