Specialists in the field of tourism in Daugavpils and Upper Daugava districts admit that it is Lithuanians who are the most active foreign tourists and make up more than 10% of the total number of tourists.
Daugavpils fortress – home of the Mark Rothko Museum among other things – is undeniably the most popular tourist attraction in the city and in Latgale as a whole. The entrance door to the restored former water tower, where the Fortress visitor center is located, is decorated with an inscription in Latvian and English. Tourists from different parts of the world come here, said Vitālijs Petkuns, head of the Visitor Center of the Daugavpils fortress:
“The most frequent visitor to the fortress is the local Latvian tourist. Then there are Lithuanians, since the border is close, then there are guests from Poland, also from Estonia, recently they are starting to come more often, also big buses, tourists from the USA.”
Accordingly, the language of communication should be diverse and informative materials should also be prepared, adapting to the flow of tourists, the acting head of the Daugavpils fortress and museum administration, Artjoms Mahļins, said.
“More than 200,000 people visit the fortress annually, and around 60,000 visit the visitor center. These are visitors to the market, participants of various events and simply those who come here for information. The information is provided in the language required by our visitors and guests. for example, if Lithuanians start speaking Russian or English, then we answer in that language. If there are Ukrainian refugees or students from the USA, it is more often Russian.
Photo: Silvija Smagare / Latvijas Radio
This season was quite active. You can see that there are still leaflets about the fortress in Latvian, Polish, German and Estonian, but the leaflets in Russian, Lithuanian and English have been removed,” said Mahļins.
New information booklets about the Daugavpils fortress are currently being prepared based on the analysis of tourists’ demand and Lithuanians will not be forgotten, as their share accounts for more than 10% of all visitors.
“There is information available in printed form about the entire city of Daugavpils in the Lithuanian language. Now we are preparing new information about the fortress in Lithuanian, Russian, English, Latvian. The website “visitdaugavpils.lv” also has information in various languages.”
Lithuanian tourists are also attracted to the Upper Daugava region. Māra Kampāne, an employee of the Naujenes Museum, said that currently there are still a small number of booklets available about a joint Latvia-Lithuania international tourist route that tells about the history of the First World War, but the emphasis is still on information in the virtual environment:
“There were more booklets, now, at the end of the season, many have gone. Mostly everything is in Latvian, Russian and English. However, material in printed form is no longer in such demand. More people use the Internet, where information can be found in any language.”
Photo: Silvija Smagare / Latvijas Radio
About 5,000 tourists visit the Naujenes museum, and according to the data of the Daugavpils Public Relations and Tourism Department, more than 730,000 tourists visited Daugavpils and the region last year, which is 20% more than the year before. This year’s data is still being processed as the tourist season winds down.
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