Tourism information providers in Latvia: development and challenges

Abstract

The tourism information system uniting tourism information providers is one of the important players within the tourism industry both for destination development and for tourists. Since the first tourism information providers in Latvia started operations in 1994 it has been important to evaluate the development of this sector of the overall tourism industry. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyse the achievements and challenges in the development of tourism information providers as part of the tourism information system in Latvia after 1991. For the purposes of reaching the objective of this paper, analysis and interviews with experienced managers of tourism information centres were used as the main research methods. The paper reveals that significant progress has been achieved in this area and tourism information providers have become important players for tourism development in Latvia at all levels – municipal, regional and national.