According to Go Vilnius, the tourism and business development agency of the city of Vilnius, the capital received a higher number of tourists last year than in 2022: it is estimated that almost 1,2 million people visited the city in total. of guests staying in various Vilnius accommodation establishments. Most of the visitors were foreigners from Europe and JAV.
20 percent visited the capital. more foreigners
Vilnius is increasingly becoming a holiday destination for tourists from all over the world: the number of foreign citizens who came here increased by 20 percent. and made up a total of 69 percent, the rest - persons living in Lithuania.
Compared to 2022, the overall growth in the number of all tourists was 12 percent. and amounted to almost 1,2 million of visitors. According to Dovilė Aleksandravičienė, head of Go Vilnius, although the increased number of tourists is still catching up with the pre-pandemic flows, the results achieved last year are encouraging.
"Vilnius is part of a region facing geopolitical challenges, so we can only be happy about the growing flow of tourists coming to the capital. We notice that compared to 2022, both the total rate of guests arriving in the city and the share of foreigners increased last year. Despite the fact that we have not yet returned to the flow of tourists seen before the pandemic, last year's indicators are optimistic, so this year we predict even more tourists and even greater benefits generated by them for the entire city economy", notes the head of Go Vilnius.
Riga and Tallinn recorded an increase in the number of tourists last year, receiving a similar flow: almost 1,2 million visited Riga. foreigners, and in Tallinn - 1,29 million.
Most travelers are in the summer
From a geographical point of view, the capital of Lithuania is the most visited tourists from Poland, Germany, Latvia, USA, United Kingdom, Belarus. A particularly large increase in the flow of tourists was received from Poland - compared to 2022, even 58 percent visited Vilnius. more citizens of this country. An increase in the number of tourists from Germany (33%), the United Kingdom (10%), Latvia (6%) and the USA (26%) was also observed. The majority of guests visit the capital of Lithuania in the summer period, between May and August. On average, they spend less than two days in the city.
Along with the increasing number of tourists, the increasing occupancy of hotels is also noticeable in the city of Vilnius. Last year it reached as much as 68 percent, and in 2022 this indicator is fixed at 7 percent. points lower. According to different calculations, one foreigner spends an average of 94 euros in the city per day. Total domestic and international 2023 tourism generated about 224 million for the capital. euros of income, which was distributed to providers of accommodation, catering, transport, excursions, entertainment and other services.
140 million was reached. audience worldwide
The growth of tourist flows from the target markets was greatly influenced by the marketing awareness campaigns carried out by the "Go Vilnius" agency. The actions dedicated to residents of neighboring countries and to the 700th anniversary of Vilnius attracted the attention of foreigners events. These campaigns made it possible to attract foreign journalists from publications such as the Financial Times, BBC radio, National Geographic, Time Out and Forbes to the capital. There was no lack of media representatives in the city due to the "NATO" of the summit. During that time, about 2 people visited Vilnius. foreign journalists who helped reach 140 million audience on the most important international media channels.
An annual survey of target markets showed that Vilnius's popularity in Germany compared to 2022. grew by 5 percent up to 62 percent; UK - from 42 percent. in 2022 until 2023 43 percent It is true that the capital's popularity was increased not only with the help of foreign media. in 2023 6 tourism promotion campaigns were implemented on various online tourism platforms aimed at residents of the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.
An even greater flow of tourists is expected
Although it is predicted that in 2024 tourism will fully return to 2019. level, however, there is an uneven distribution of travelers in different regions of Europe. According to United Nations data, the region of Central and Eastern Europe, which includes Lithuania, received the least number of tourists compared to 2019: only 75 percent came to this region. of the pre-pandemic flow of foreigners. A survey of tourism professionals conducted by Euromonitor International showed that among the factors most hindering the recovery of tourism in the region are geopolitical challenges.
Nevertheless, Dovilė Aleksandravičienė, head of Go Vilnius, believes that the number of tourists in the city will grow even more in the coming years: "Taking into account the general tourism trends, the habits of travelers and the circumstances influencing the development of tourism, we will aim for the number of tourists to increase by at least 11 percent this year." . We plan to continue actively working with target markets: Poland, Germany, United Kingdom and Latvija. We set ourselves the goal of ensuring the use of effective measures that will have a real impact on the growth of the number of tourists. Among them is work with foreign journalists, marketing campaigns, promotion programs for flights and international events, and other initiatives."
