Tasks

• Members representation
• Trainings
• Consulting
• Publications

Members representation

EUROGITES (European federation of Farm and Village Tourism)

In 2007, the Lithuanian Countryside Tourism Association became a member of EuroGites. The official site of the organization (http://www.eurogites.org/) presents information on the Lithuanian Countryside Tourism Association. This membership resulted in significant growth of the foreign nationals addressing the Lithuanian Countryside Tourism Association (by 20 percent, if compared to the previous year).
EuroGites joins 29 special organizations representing 25 European countries. EuroGites acts for the countryside accommodation service providers in Europe holding over 400 thousand rooms available for accommodation purposes and about 3,6 million places.
EuroGites endeavour to implement broad scale goals, because this industrial sector consists of small-sized companies and other accommodation-related activities, which require support and representation in numerous fields. Key operation fields: European-wide recognized rural and farm tourism lobbyism, professional experts exchange and associations, trainings and good practice exchange, distribution of information booklets of the European and international organizations, communication via public media and country and international level campaigns, worldwide cooperation.
EuriGites members pay membership fees on an annual basis. In 2008, the Lithuanian Countryside Tourism Association paid a membership fee of EUR 911,10.
 

Trainings

The Lithuanian Countryside Tourism Association has been licensed by the Ministry of Education for carrying our tourism business trainings (state code 261081201).
 

Consulting

The Lithuanian Countryside Tourism Association offers free consultations. Consultations cover the following fields:

• Arrangement of countryside tourism activities;
• Tourist attendance and handling of relations with the tourists;
• Maintenance of premises and work safety;
• Encouragement of tourism activities;
• Sale of countryside tourism services, service provision requirements;
• Special purpose farmsteads and requirements for specializations;
• Eligibility for provision of tourism services;
• Providers and users of countryside tourism services.

Publications

1) COUNTRYSIDE TOURISM. The publication has been developed to provide the most relevant legal and practical information for farmstead owners and countryside tourism service providers. The publication provides systemized information on regulations governing countryside tourism activities, summarizes theoretical and practical materials by the Lithuanian and foreign authors, gives information on experience of the Lithuanian farmsteads. The book is presented in the form of the methodical aid for attendants of the tourism training courses and for the farmstead owners who want to improve their knowledge of countryside tourism services.
 
2) COUNTRYSIDE TOURISM. LEGISLATION. The publication is designed for rural people who decided to start countryside tourism business. It discusses legislation (laws and regulations) governing countryside tourism activities. The legislation covers the below fields of business interests: Formalizing of the plot selected for establishment of the farmstead; design of the farmstead; construction of the farmstead; arrangement of countryside tourism activities and assurance of service quality. The publication provides brief description of individual laws. It also gives explanations on how and when these laws must be applied.
 
3) LITHUANIA. COUNTRYSIDE VACATION 2009. The directory comprises information on the farmsteads, who are the members of the Lithuanian Countryside Tourism Association. Description of every farmstead includes information on the number of rooms and places. Besides, there is information on whether the farmstead is open throughout a year or in summer time only, what languages do the personnel speak, the range of services and available leisure activities supported by pictures of the farmstead. Moreover, the directory presents numerous pictures illustrating certain events held by the Association and its members.
 
4) COUNTRYSIDE TOURISM. The publication was developed for the Lithuanian farmers and rural population, who want to select a plot for countryside tourisms development. The publication provides information on the very first steps in this business.
The first section of the publication discusses the issues of selection of the plot for countryside tourism development. The second section presents a detailed analysis of the problems faced by the newcomers to the countryside tourism business in the field of planning tourism business and farmstead design. The third section gives advices on management of the farmstead and development of its facilities. The fourth section analyzes key principles of countryside tourism development. The publication also gives the list of literature and other sources, which may be helpful for the readers, who desire to analyze the issues more deeply.