Guidelines for improvement of cultural tourism product management and marketing competencies (Lithuania’s case)
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Kultūrinis turizmas; Turizmo produktai; Kompetencijos; Tobulinimas; Cultural tourism; Tourism products; Competencies; Improvement.
ENTourism development is guaranteed, if employees are well-trained and have appropriate competencies. Sale and popularisation of cultural tourism products requires even more competencies. The aim of this article is to analyse the selected cultural tourism products and reveal problematic areas of management and marketing competencies which occur during the provision of these products to customers. The article also aims at setting out the guidelines for the development of human resources. To this end, the triangulation of research methods was chosen. A survey was carried out which combined meta-analyses of several cultural tourism products (encompassing document analysis, website analysis and observation). The conducted research highlighted the problematic areas and the direction in which improvement could be achieved. It should be emphasised that Lithuania has a big potential of cultural tourism (heritage) products, however, the opportunities are poorly availed of and this area is not competitive enough. For this reason, it is important to note that to place an attractive cultural tourism product on the market of tourism or to offer attractive services more attention should be focused on clients and the improvement of competencies related to market knowledge and customer–oriented learning. [From the publication]
