Zeszyt naukowy - całość - Wydział ZarzÄ dzania i Ekonomiki Usług

ZESZYTY NAUKOWE UNIWERSYTETU SZCZECIŃSKIEGO
NR 592 EKONOMICZNE PROBLEMY TURYSTYKI NR 14 2010
AGITA DONIŅA
School of Business Administration Turiba, Latvia
TOURISM CLUSTERS AS A BENEFIT FOR TOURISM ENTREPRENEURS IN LATVIA
Introduction
Tourism takes an important role in the national economy of Latvia – in 2007
export of tourism related services reached 343 mil. Lats or 18,1% 1 of total Latvia’s
service export.
From the estimation of Central Statistical Bureau in 2004 and 2005 GDP of
characteristic tourism sectors density constitute respectively 2,98% and 5,03% 2 .
From the World Travel and Tourism Council estimation density of direct Latvian
tourism sector GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in 2008 was 1,5%, while the tourism
sector-specific contribution to the national economy could be much higher – 7,5%
(2008) 3 . In comparison with previous years, the contribution of GDP has declined,
despite the relatively high potential for tourism development in the country. Reduction
of tourism contribution to GDP, is caused by not only the foreign tourist flow
reduction, but also possibly ineffective management of tourism enterprises. By
seeking new forms of development, tourism industry professionals as one of the
possible options have mentioned the need for deeper cooperation, which could result
in better tourism product development, cost optimization and joint marketing
activities. So far, there is no detailed, individual research done on tourism destinations
and tourism enterprises network. Following scientific researches and practices
carried out in other countries, where as a successful example of collaboration clus-
1
Data from Central Statistical Bureau, www.csb.gov.lv.
2
Latvijas Tūrisma attīstības pamatnostādņu 2009–2015, gadam kopsavilkums, Ministry of
Economics of the Republic of Latvia, 2009.
3
World Travel and Tourism Council, Tourism economic research, Latvia 2008.