Report about error

The most appealing tourist attractions this year are Trakai, Neringa and Druskininkai.  This is how public enterprise Terra Publica, which compiled a list of the most appealing local tourist attractions, names them.  The leaders of the rating have not changed for a while, however, as the compilers of the rating note, the sites keep improving in use of the local natural resources every year, delfi.lt reported on 12 June.

As the authors of the analysis point out, the largest Lithuanian cities were taken out of it – half a day is certainly not enough for a visit to Vilnius old town or Kaunas museums. However, separate complexes within cities, like Vilnius University or Kaunas Pažaislis convent were included and rated.

According to Project manager Vytautas Kondrotas, who is supervising the analysis, “in reviewing the tendencies of the local tourism, one can say that the sites keep making better use of their natural resources.”  This is why the traditional resorts have finally made it to the top ten.  They are likely to occupy these positions for quite a while.  The district centres (Rokiškis, Pakruojis and Biržai) that have other tourist resources keep strengthening their positions in the second ten.  In a longer run, the most active regional parks, museums and private tourist sites will take their places in the third ten.  We have also noticed that right after the third ten, several sites with very similar scores line up, so in 2013, Terra Publica will prolong the list to 50 attractions.

10 most appealing tourist attractions in Lithuania:

1. Trakai
2. Neringa
3. Druskininkai
4. Aukštaitija National Park
5. Anykščiai
6. Kėdainiai
7. Kretinga
8. Palanga
9. Niūronys (Horse Museum)
10. Birštonas

The criteria of the rating are separated into three parts: the importance of the object itself, its infrastructure and appeal for tourism.  The theme of the object, size of its exposition, relevance for various social groups, seasonality, interaction with surrounding objects, geographic location, roads of access, sanitary conditions, additional services, self-marketing, collaboration with media, information supply by phone and in the place were also taken into consideration.

Translated by Ieva Krivickaitė
Edited by Maria Arguelles