Soviet heritage and tourism development: the case of Lithuania
ENMore than one billion of international tours are related to cultural aspects, especially to cultural heritage. This branch of tourism industry promotes employment, the growth of private business sector, the development of infrastructure, the increment and regeneration of regional economy. However, the spread of tourism all over the world forces separate regions to compete in order to attract more tourists. For this reason, each region has to find something that would ensure its competitive advantage in global tourism market. So far, Lithuanian tourism supply has never been formed on the basis of that principle, therefore, in order to ensure the effective development of regions, as well as the recovery of those Lithuanian districts that became the ‘victims’ of mass industrialisation in the second half of the 20th century and to survive in the rising competition by attracting tourists, tourism products must be unique. The Soviet heritage in Lithuania, especially architectural and industrial, may become this unique cultural product. This article analyses the topics of the Soviet heritage in scientific discourse and presents the results of the study, delivered in 2013 in Lithuania, with the intention of exploring the possibilities of using the Soviet heritage for tourism development. Keywords: tourism, Soviet heritage, competitive advantage, Lithuania.
