POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT MODELS OF LATVIAN AMUSEMENT PARKS

Abstract

There are more than 14 amusement parks in Latvia, located in different areas. Latvia's amusement parks have been little studied and there is not much information about their importance in the regional economy, as well as the contribution to the tourism and business sector. These are places that are widely used by tourists, often related to the regional business environment, as there are shops and hotels nearby, as well as other types of service that visitors need. Latvian amusement parks can be divided into three groups: terrestrial, water and technical scientific amusement parks. Many of them are located near cities, for example, amusement park "Lemberga Hute" near Ventspils, city by the Baltic Sea with 38059 residents in 2019 (according to PMLP data), "Livu water amusement park" located in Jurmala, which is a city with 56696 thousand residents 2020 (according to PMLP data). One of the determining factors of the development of amusement parks is the growth of cities and their adjacent territories, which enables them to form both in terms of infrastructure and population growth. Regional economic indicators are an important factor for regional growth.