Kostas E. Sillignakis – www.sillignakis.

com

“TOURISM DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF ESTONIA:

Analysis & Evaluation”

By Kostas E. Sillignakis

INTRODUCTION

This study will focus on the tourism development of Estonia and will attempt to define
the tourism development strategy of this country and furthermore to critically evaluate it.
Subsequently, we will conclude with recommendation for future development strategies.

ESTONIA

Estonia is the northernmost of the three Baltic countries (Figure 1.1). As for the latitude,
Estonia belongs to Northern Europe, whereas the longitude places it in Eastern Europe.
On the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, Estonia is bordered by the Gulf of Finland in the
north, Russia in the east, and Latvia in the south (Internet,
http://www.ecotourism.ee/eng/enw/onthemap.html).

Figure 1.1: Estonia Map

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Estonians have been living in this tiny portion of the Baltic lands since approximately
2,500 B.C., making them the longest settled of the European peoples. Due to Estonia’s
strategic location as a link between East and West, it has been highly coveted through the
ages by rapacious kings and conquerors (Internet, http://visitestonia.com/).

TOURISM IN ESTONIA

Throughout the period of Soviet rule, Estonia remained a popular tourist destination. Its
attractive coastline on the Baltic Sea, and its tradition of curative mud baths provided the
basis for the development of both dachas and health resorts. Foreign tourism, which was
encouraged from the 1960s onwards, was largely restricted to Tallinn. From 1957, a
number of protected environmental areas and national parks were also developed. During
the 1980s it is estimated that just under half a million tourists from eastern Europe and
the former Soviet Union visited Estonia, but with independence in 1991 this flow was to
a substantial extent replaced by tourists from western Europe, most notably from Finland
and Sweden (Unwin, 1996). They wanted to benefit from its cheaper prices, particularly
for alcohol and sexual services. The dominant tourist location was Tallinn, the sea port at
which most tourists arrived. As Estonia has become more integrated into the global
economy, prices have risen, and tourism has become munch more diversified.

The development of Estonia's tourism sector mirrors the development of the country, as
tourism has played a significantly large role in the rapid transition from ineffective
planning to full-scale competition (Internet, http://www.ce-
review.org/00/14/amber14_estonia.html). The country's tourism sector has matured at an
amazing pace over the last few years. The World Tourism Organisation said Estonia had
the fastest growing tourism industry in Europe in 1999, with overnight stays up by 15 per
cent and total number of tourists by 9 per cent. Also, Cruise European News noted
Tallinn as the second highest port-of-call for cruise ships in Europe in 1999, with 190
calls (Internet, http://www.inyourpocket.com/estonia/en/).

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The importance of tourism in the Estonian economy has continuously grown in recent
years, accounting directly ca 10% and together with indirect effects ca 15% of the GDP
(Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1: Export of Tourism Services in Estonia 1993-1999

(source: Estonian Tourism Board, 2002)

12
10.36
10 9.33
8.34
8
6.82

6 5.16 In Billion EEK

4
2.15
2 1

0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

The share of tourism in employment and in the exports of Estonian goods and services is
approximately 16%. The number of foreign visitors to Estonia has increased from 2.1
million in 1995 to 3.3 million in 2000. (Figure 2.2) The average growth rate during the
last four years has been 11%. Such a growth rate is primarily characteristic of developing
economies and a stabilisation of the growth rate on the level of 5-8% is expected in the
future.

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Figure 2.2: International arrivals in Estonia

(source: Estonian Tourism Board, 2002)

Arrivals in millions

3.5 3.18
2.9
3
2.6
2.4
2.5
2.1
1.9
2
1.6 Arrivals in millions
1.5

0.5

0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

In spite of the impressive figures the Estonian tourism faces many critical factors. Among
the critical factors impairing tourism development the following can be mentioned:
Estonian tourism product is too one-sided and centered in Tallinn, in regions the tourism
infrastructure is insufficiently developed and too little investments are made in tourism,
particularly outside Tallinn (Pilt, 2002). Rural tourism initiatives have therefore been
encouraged by foreign consultants, governments, and farmers groups, in order to seek to
spread the benefits of tourism more widely.

STRATEGIES, POLICIES AND PLANS

Sustainable tourism was one main principle of the National Tourism Master plan for
1995-2000. Presently, several strategic plans covering sustainable tourism development
are being developed: the National Tourism Development Plan to the year 2010; the
Environmental Action Plan to the year 2010 where one of the proposed activities is to
work out a National Strategy for Recreational Areas and Ecotourism, and a Biological

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Diversity Strategy. Ecotourism and nature-based tourism is a part of the National

Tourism Strategy and Plan. (Internet,
http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/estonia/eco.htm#tour).

The issues relevant to sustainable tourism in these policies and plans are strategic
planning, cooperation among stakeholders, marketing to attract environmentally friendly
tourists, certifying and labelling, awareness campaign, investment promotion (at the
national level), land use planning and zoning, infrastructure development and influencing
tourist behaviour (at the local level). Based on the Agenda 21 for Baltic Sea Region
Tourism, monitoring procedures are going to be worked out in the coming years (Plit,
2002).

RURAL TOURISM IN ESTONIA

Estonian rural tourism as organized activity began in the middle of 1990ies, when the
tourism department, formed at the Estonian Farmers Central Union, had begun to operate.
Tourism farm as such has been one of the key components of re-independent Estonia’s
rural tourism, even though there are only about ten tourism farms that have been
successfully operating since the beginning of 1990-s. In total the number of households
that claim to be tourism farms is a bit more than 200
From the viewpoint of the development of Estonian rural tourism, it is impossible to
overestimate the potential, which was hidden in the work done with tourism regions that
had become relevant in the middle of 1990-ies. Still it has to be recognised that the
desired effect was reached only in Southern Estonia, because that region is the only
actually operating one in Estonia and South Estonian Tourism Agency is doing a work,
which can be set as a model not only to the rest of the regions that are in syncope, but to
the whole tourism association of Estonia.

Rural tourism, like regional policy of Estonia, has much broader comprehension and
bigger importance than is thought at the first sight. Based on the logic, which is
prevailing in Estonian tourism, all the tourism carried out outside Tallinn and Pärnu as
tourism centres, is rural tourism.

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The biggest problems so far are product development or creating new competitive
products and marketing or taking the existing better products to the market. In product
development the only rural tourism conception, which was used by almost all of the
actors, was for a long time rural tourism. In addition to lodging at the farm, it was
claimed that also active hobbies are offered, such as horseback riding, boating, biking
trips, fishing, hunting etc, but actually with this only possibilities were meant, not an
existing product.

CRITICIZE RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF ESTONIA

Debates over the sustainability of tourism have become increasingly common in the
literature (Priestly et al., 1996), and some of those promoting rural tourism have been
eager ensure that it has minimal adverse influence on the environment. One example of
this is the emphasis on eco-tourism by several farmers organisations (Mikk and Mauring,
1994). However, the very things that make Estonia an interesting rural tourist location are
those that are most likely to be adversely influenced by any substantial increase in tourist
activity. The emphasis on the survival of much wildlife no longer found in western
Europe, for example, encouraged the development of hunting tourism, not all of which
was legal, with there initially being little real control of the numbers of animals killed.
Even with just coach loads of people visiting rural areas, their presence in the numbers
sufficient to make it economically beneficial for rural communities, would have serious
detrimental effects on both the physical environment and the cultural landscape.

Rural tourism is widely seen as being of considerable economic and social benefit,
through the income and infrastructural developments it brings to marginal and less
economically developed regions. Considerable attention has thus been given in the
European Union to the support and enhancement of rural tourism initiatives (Mormont,
1987; Bethemont, 1994; Priestly et al., 1996). However, although some doubts over the
influence of such tourism on rural communities and landscapes have been raised, a

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sustained critique of this viewpoint has yet to be accepted. Typical ethical questions
which are encountered include the following:

‰ should rural tourism be encouraged if it leads to increased social and economic

inequality in rural communities?

‰ how appropriate is it to propagate rural tourism initiatives if the majority of the

benefit is received by urban communities? and

‰ how much adverse landscape and environmental change as a result of rural

tourism is acceptable?

Furthermore, while a substantial literature on the sustainability of rural tourism is

emerging, this has yet to be accepted by many of those implementing tourism
development policies (Cater and Lowman, 1994).

Somewhat paradoxically, though, the extensive promotion of Estonia as a country of

considerable natural beauty, with large areas of unspoilt woodland and wildlife, runs
counter to its attempts to portray itself as a modern, developed, market-oriented economy
in the political context of accession to the European Union. This raises wide ranging
ethical issues surrounding the question of the extent to which those promoting Estonia as
a beautiful rural tourist destination should indeed be doing so, when the majority view of
Estonians would seem to be that they wish their new identity to be that of a modern
European economy (Lauristin and Vihalemm, 1997).

It still remains relatively difficult for tourists to visit rural areas, and despite the
encouragement of farm tourism, the majority of bed-nights remain in urban areas. Thus,
within Estonia, most financial benefits resulting from the propagation of rural tourism are
still accruing to urban areas. Visits to national parks and beautiful landscapes are
producing little direct economic benefit to rural communities.

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CONCLUSION

The sustainable tourism development that Estonia has chosen as a strategy could be
characterized as correct decision. Moreover, ecotourism and rural tourism that have been
chosen as strategies to decentralize tourism development in Estonia is also correct. The
limitation of this kind of tourism development is the implementation and evaluation of
this process. As a recommendation to this kind of development is for Estonia to consist a
board of experts in order to distribute equally the benefits of rural tourism development to
all the regions of Estonia. This board of experts should be consisted be various
stakeholders such as the public and privet sector, local residents and foreigner investors.
Sustainable tourism development is a wise strategy for economic and social rejuvenation
for developing countries. Nevertheless, the important task is the efficient implementation
of this process, and this is the point that Estonia has to focus in the future.

REFERENCES

Bethemont, J. (1994) Lavenir des paysages ruraux européens, Lyon: Laboratoire de

Géographie Rhodanienne

Cater, E. and Lowman, (1993) G. Ecotourism: a sustainable option, Chichester: Wiley

Lauristin, M. and Vihalemm, P. (1997) Return to the Western world: cultural and
political perspectiveson the Estonian post-communist transition, Tartu: Tartu University
Press.

Mikk, M. and Mauring, R. (1994) Miks peaks Eesti Põllumajandus olema ökoloogiline?,
Tartu: Ökoinsenerikeskuse Publikatsioonid.

Mormont, M. (1987) Tourism and rural change: the symbolic impact, in: Bouquet, M.
and Winter, M. Who from their labours rest? Conflict and practice in rural tourism,
Aldershot: Avebury, 35-44

Priestly, G.K., Edwards, J.A. and Coccosis, H. (1996) Sustainable tourism? European
experiences, Oxford: CAB International

Unwin, T. (1996) Tourist development in Estonia: images, sustainability, and integrated

rural development, Tourism Management, 17(4), 265-76.

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Pilt J., (2002) Tourism development Master plan for Estonia, Estonian government
report.

INTERNET

All pages was hit on 3/3/2003

http://www.ce-review.org/00/14/amber14_estonia.html

http://www.inyourpocket.com/estonia/en/

http://www.ecotourism.ee/eng/enw/onthemap.html

http://visitestonia.com/

http://www.maaturism.ee/db/index.php?switch_lang=yes&new_lang=eng&PHPSESSID
=8671b01ff5d1e31ad3fa52fcc72a3e45

http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/estonia/eco.htm#tour