Tourism in Estonia perspectives, obstacles Reet Hiiemäe, Estonian Folklore Institute, Estonia Pavel Smulski, Eesti People to People, Estonia Tools for Trainers
Development of the field & infra-structure Yearly 3 million tourists are staying overnight in Estonia and more than 3 million one-day visitors visit Estonia in 2014 they spent altogether 1,39 billion euros for Estonian tourism services. Estonia itself has 1,3 million inhabitants. Turism has an important economical role in Estonia percentage in gross domestic product appr. 7%; percentage in total export of services 27%. The importance of tourism is increasing, for example in 2015 there were 7% more local people who used tourist enterprices for accommodation than in 2014. Estonian tourism politics: the main goal is to increase the International competing ability of Estonian tourism and to grant increasing use of tourism services among local as well international tourists.
More about the situation In Estonia more than 400 enterprices are working in the business of traveling and tourism business (travel agencies, organisers of tours). There are 1600 enterprices (with more than 40 000 bed places) that offer accommodation. According to the forecast of the Ministry of Economy and Communication the number of people who are engaged in the tourism industry will increase 10 % (appr. 2000 workplaces) in 10 years. At the moment there are more than 20 000 persons busy in the tourism sector.
Rural tourism & entrepreneurship Smaller and bigger roof organisations, like NGO Rural Tourism (MTÜ Eesti Maaturism) (http://www.maaturism.ee/index.php?lang=en); Estonian Association of Eco-Tourism (Eesti Ökoturismi Ühendus). Main directions: nature tourism, sea tourism (Estonia as a seaside country), eco- tourism, health tourism. Examples of joint projects: Estonian sauna route, Estonian culinary route (http://www.toidutee.ee/en), the Day of Open Farms. Increasing attempts to develop local food and local food brands: cheese, beer, cider. Also increasing attempts to offer activities like handicraft courses + selling handicraft. In perspective more and more tourists coming for family holiday are expected who would be happy to visit especially smaller farms and other smaller tourism enterprices, however the farms should be able to offer more suitable services.
Professionalism in rural tourism Various organisations, vocational schools and unversities active on the field, for example the Association of Estonian Tourism Education (http://www.ethl.ee/); Pärnu College of Tartu University + various vocational school offering curriculums in tourism management, rural tourism, nature tourism management, etc. The courses are popular among younger people. However, there are many small farms and other enterprices whose staff has got no However, there are many small farms and other enterprices whose staff has got no training at all. After Estonia regained independence in 1991 many people who worked in the sector of agriculture lost their jobs and switched to offering rural tourism services without any special training. Here is need for additional training
How to achieve increased professionalism, more profit and better jobs The main points that need to be developed among smaller enterprices of rural tourism: - How to be special and attract more customers? - How to become visible internationally? - How to get access into international accommodation portals (like booking.com)?
Main obstacles * Many don t know how to make their place different/special/attractive and bring in some added value, so that it would not be yet another boring bed and breakfast. No knowledge about the folklore, customs, sacred sites, etc. of the area that would help them to make their services more interesting. * Language skills. The older staff of many rural tourism enterprices has no language skills, * Language skills. The older staff of many rural tourism enterprices has no language skills, they also have no website in foreign languages and therefore clients from abroad are not able to find them.
Future prospective General perspectives to develop: - better advertisement of Estonian rural tourism abroad pointing out more clearly what is special in visiting Estonia. - attractive representing of Estonian folk culture, folklore, customs in connection with offering various activities, like cooking courses, health and sport services (hiking tours). Traditional architecture should be presented in combination with nontangible cultural heritage, e.g. Estonian smoke sauna with traditional magic and customs related to the sauna. According to the estimates, the percentage of far foreign tourists will increase they should have more access to the information regarding services connected with attractive local culture. - livelong learning of staff cooperation with organisations offering tourism education regarding the needs in the field of education and courses. Concrete perspectives of this project: best practice (what has worked and what not) / educational materials from all participating countries building a flexible toolbox.
Thank you!