Azerbaijan, Baku, May 2 / Trend S. Agayeva /
Lithuania intends to increase the percentage of Azerbaijani tourists at the expense of cultural and historical, spa-and health tourism in resort areas, such as Neringa, Palanga, Druskininkai.
Lithuania, though belatedly, is ready for seriously attracting Azerbaijani tourists to the country to increase the cooperation between tour operators of the two countries, Director General of the State Tourism Department of Lithuania Raimonda Balniene said during the presentation of tourism opportunities of the country.
At present, the flow of tourists from Azerbaijan to Lithuania is very low. But the Lithuanian companies intend to work seriously to attract Azerbaijan's tourism operators to work with Lithuania, she said.
The Lithuanian Embassy in Azerbaijan is ready for assisting Lithuanian and Azerbaijani companies. The Consular Section of the Embassy is ready for issuing visas to Azerbaijani citizens during the day if all the documents for visa are in order, Lithuanian Ambassador Kestutis Kudzmanas said.
At present, Lithuania actively develops the tourism sector. The tourism revenues account for 4.4 percent of GDP.
According to the statistics, about 1.5 million tourists visited the country last year.
Balniene stressed four areas of developing Lithuanian tourism - medical, spa, cultural, active and business tourism.
The ratio between quality and price on vacation in Lithuania is optimal, she said.
The representatives of the Vilnius Heart Surgery Center "Kardiolita" and "Energetikas" resort in Palanga presented their tourism products.
The main events in Lithuania this year are European Basketball Championship, International Hanseatic Days in Kaunas, the tall ships regatta "Culture 2011".
The basketball championship in Lithuania is of particular interest, because a young Lithuanian team won the bronze medal at the world championship last year. Everyone hopes that this time it will win the gold medal. The European Championship will be held in five cities of Lithuania - Vilnius, Kaunas, Siauliai, Panevezys and Alytus from August 31-September 18.
Kaunas will host international Hanseatic Days on May 19-22. This festival has become a tradition. It has been carried out since 1980 in various cities of the Hanseatic League. It will bring together cities from 15 European countries. Each of them will open a pavilion. The program includes a medieval fair, a bazaar of flowers, cheese, fish, carnival, joust, a festival of vintage cars, "Dance of the balloons" and the night street dance master classes. There will be also Lithuanians' favourite kinds of sports - basketball and equestrian.
There will be yoga and aerobics master-classes and volleyball competitions on the beach.
The Tall Ships Regatta "Culture 2011" will take place in the waters of Klaipeda on August 18-21. Besides racing yacht, various cultural events and concerts will be held in the city this time.