Raksti II - LLU Fundamentālā bibliotēka - Latvijas Lauksaimniecības ...

SOCIĀLO ZINĀTŅU FAKULTĀTES RAKSTI III
Rundale castle
Rundale castle is the next destination. It is one of the most famous tourist attractions
(Latvia. The most popular tourist destinations, 2010), so it has been mentioned on the front
page of Latvia’s toruism portal (Kurp doties, 2010; Visit Europe, 2010). In the beginning it
must be mentioned that there are no instructions how to get there. The most comfortable way is
to go there together with an organized group of tourists, and an individual traveller may join
such a group. Yet there is a possibility to go to the castle individually. This option should be
considered in tourist information centres.
The main tourist information centre, as was previously mentioned, is located in Old
Riga, on the premises of Melngalvju nams (the Blackheads’ house). The employees of this
centre explain that most tourists who are willing to travel individually to Rundale castle, come
from Germany and more seldom from Russia. It is possible to obtain information in the
information centre about public transportation that will take a tourist to Rundale castle.
First of all a tourist travels to Bauska. In the Riga Central bus terminal unlike the
Central train terminal a lot more information is available in foreign languages (at least English
and Russian) and it is comprehensible and visual. Bus traffic to Bauska is frequent and regular.
In the Bauska bus station the situation is different: all informative notices and signs are
only in the Latvian language, moreover, the employees of the bus station are not capable of
communicating in any foreign language (except for Russian), which means that a foreign
tourist should collect detailed information beforehand as to what to do and where to go to be
able to get to Pilsrundale.
The main information stand meant for tourists, that gives information about the castle
and its history, is available in all four languages, whereas the other stand that is located on the
tourists’ walk, with the scheme of the castle and its park, is only in the Latvian and English
languages. This is incomprehensible, as historically the castle is conected particularly with the
Russians and the Germans.
After visiting Rundale castle the conclusion can be made that for a foreign individual
tourist it is more comfortable to join a group of tourists and travel under the guidance of a
qualified guide, otherwise the tourist may face difficyll obstacles and inconveniences. Thus the
accessibility of information from a foreign language perspective can be assessed only as
partially satisfactory.
Discussion
The author of the research clarified and evaluated the accessibility of Riga (and Latvia)
to an individual tourist from a foreign language perspective. So far identic research has not
been done, yet in 2003 research was done “Information of Latvia Tourism in the Internet:
Evaluations and Comparisons” (Bērziņa, Blunavs, Ozols, 2003), where it was proved that in
informative materials the most important target group languages are not used: neither German,
Finnish, Russian, nor the Lithuanian and Estonian languages.
There is a study “The Explanations of Tourism terminology: its structural logical
system” (Rozīte, 2003), where attention has been paid to the fact that the English language has
a dominance in International tourism both among tourists as well as professionals, and there is
a very insignificant other languages’ proportion- in electronic and other means of
communication, as well as in publishing professional and applied literature; textbooks and
magazines.
There is a similar study (to the author’s study) in 2009 in Vilnius (Ryvityte, Lukošiūte,
2009), where it was proved that the Lithanian language is dominant in informative signs and
notices in Lithuania. The next most frequently used language is English,- the same thesis has
been certified in the author’s work, - related to foreign language use in Riga and Latvia. In
some cases signs and notices in the streets of Vilnius are in other languages too - French,
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