Perceptions of natural aspects of tourism development in Curonian Spit

1. Perceptions of natural aspects of tourism development in Curonian Spit

2. CURONIAN LAGOON • is located on the southeastern rim of the Baltic Sea. • It is the largest Baltic Sea lagoon (surface area 1,584 sq. km). • The Nemunas river provides the main water inflow into the Curonian lagoon, which discharges to the Baltic Sea. • July and August are the warmest months of the year with the main daily air temperature reaching +17ºC.

4. Politically, the Curonian lagoon region is divided in two parts: The northern one belongs to Lithuania and the southern part to Kaliningrad Oblast, which is the exclusive territory of Russian Federation. • Geographically, the Curonian lagoon and the adjacent region form a huge natural entity. The southeastern Baltic coastal accumulative plain includes three major parts: The Nemunas delta, the Curonian spit and the Sambian peninsula. The total area of this region is app. 4.000 sq. km.

6. The Curonian spit is famous for its 31 km long coastal ridge of 40-60 m high drifting barchans. In 2000 the entire Curonian spit has been included into the UNESCO World Heritage List as a cultural landscape of outstanding value.

7. It is protected within the national parks of Kuršiu nerija (Lithuania) and Kurshskaya kosa (Russia). • The sandy marine beaches of the Curonian spit together with nice traditional resorts, mature pinewoods and the magnificent vistas over the drifting dunes and the Curonian lagoon form the most valuable tourism attraction of the whole region. Thus Curonian lagoon has become an international tourism destination.

9. In both the Lithuanian and Russian parts of the Curonian lagoon region fishing and agriculture have maintained their leading roles in the local economy during the 1990s and early 2000s. • The economic performance of these sectors and their capacity to provide a decent living for the local population has declined dramatically because of the emergence of the market economy and the change of mechanisms behind the production from a matter of central planning to local decisions affected by prices of resources needed and products manufactured. • Tourism is a new emerging opportunity for a truly sustainable and decent future of the region if its development is based on the key strengths of the Curonian lagoon region as an area with outstanding natural amenities.

10. The Curonian spit is by far the most suitable area for tourism development in the region, but its status as a national park appears to ensure a strong legal protection against large-scale developments outside the areas already developed. It seems very important to discuss whether the spit should be reserved mainly for low-scale exclusive tourism, affordable only to foreigners and rich locals, or whether there should also be facilities for locals with "normal" incomes. At present the trend seems to be the first.

12. From the rural, agro-, eco-, and water-tourism perspectives, the Nemunas delta is much more attractive than the Curonian spit. But whether the expected sustainable tourism development opportunities will be realized and remains open to questioning. The utilization of rich natural resources for sustainable tourism development in the Curonian lagoon region and its economic and social recovery will be possible only if the region bases its development on essential principles of sustainability.

13. The Department of Recreation and Tourism at Klaipeda University together with the EUCC Baltic Office are the leading institutions facilitating the sustainable tourism development in the Curonian lagoon area. The whole process started in 1993 when efforts aimed at fostering the sustainable development of Rusne island in the Nemunas delta and the promotion of sustainable tourism became one of the key priorities of the program.

14. INTEGRATED CROSS-BORDER MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR CURONIAN SPIT Task 4. Promotion of the responsible tourism on the Curonian Spit • To facilitate the prevalence of the responsible tourism development on the Curonian Spit • To facilitate mutual understanding among the local people, authorities, visitors, stakeholders and conservationists on the key tasks of conservation on the Curonian Spit • To launch nature and cultural heritage education programmes for local people. Particularly for youth and schoolchildren • To strengthen motivations of local people and private stakeholders to shift towards the provision of the responsible tourism services • To establish focal best practice points educating local people and privaate stakeholderss in the provision of the responsible tourism services • To promote maintenance of the authentic cultural heritage as responsible tourism facilities

15. scheme PERCEPTION MOTIVATION ACTION

16. CURONIAN LAGOON III V II I IV

17. PERCEPTUAL MAP 5 types of perceptions: • Culture dominate based on negative background • Nature dominate based on negative background • Culture + nature • Nature dominate based on positive background • Resort type : “nature must be adapted”

19. PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS NATURE: • POSITIVE • PERCEIVED IN LARGE SCALE • SMALL SCALE – ANIMALS (No dunes) • HIGH IDENTIFICATION

20. Mass tourism Eco-tourism PERCEPTION OF FUTURE MODEL OF TOURISM Mass tourism Eco-tourism

21. AWARENESS BUILDING DIRECTIONS:To change the preferential group from youth and schoolchildren to „villa‘s newcommers“(VN) and local adults.From education to creative forms of information.Authenticity of cultural heritage.HR development - stress on culture.

22. Is this sustainability?

23. Thank you