According to the accommodation statistics of 2020 and 2021, from January to August, the number of tourists in Kaunas increased by as much as 145%, however, it is still impossible to return to the pre-pandemic level. In 2019, twice as many tourists visited Kaunas during the same period. Thus, inventive campaigns are being used to aid the slowly recovering tourism sector. One of them is a campaign by Kaunas IN and Lietuvos paštas, which was launched in the 26 Lithuanian cities on September 15. During the campaign, more than 200 invitations for two were given away, so that people could have a lovely overnight stay in Kaunas and gain Kaunastic experiences.
Tourists return to the city
According to the statistical data of Kaunas obtained in 2021, during the first months of the summer, the city was explored and visited more by Lithuanians but later, the number of foreign tourists also increased. The numbers were especially promising in August. At the end of the summer, the city received more tourists than in any other month. “In June and July, Kaunas was mostly visited by Lithuanians and in August, the number of foreign tourists was almost twice that of the local ones. Of course, big events also contributed a lot to the rise in the number of tourists. Among them were the Futsal World Cup and the Olympic selection process that also attracted more people to Kaunas,” Inga Pažereckaitė-Kalėdienė, Head of Tourism Department at Kaunas IN says. She also notes that events in the city not only bring more life but also increase the flow of tourists.
The fact that this summer was much more productive than in 2020, was determined by people’s ability to adapt to changes. Tourists and townspeople have simply learned to live with a variety of additional requirements, got accustomed to certain restrictions and proof of immunization required by some places.
Although the tourist flows are growing, they are far from reaching the level of 2019. To be more precise, they were cut in half. On average, tourists spend about two nights in Kaunas.
The main travelers in August were Latvians, Poles and Estonians. At the end of the summer, the number of Germans and French – who were very few in June and July – increased. I. Pažereckaitė-Kalėdienė says that the foreigners, who visited Kaunas Tourist Information Center at the beginning of the summer, were those who study or work in Kaunas or other Lithuanian cities rather than tourists traveling from other countries. It was not until August that this trend began to shift.
It is quite obvious that the traveling style has also changed. Large tourist buses have been replaced by smaller groups or individual, single-family travelers. Couples, families and small groups of friends mostly travel independently. Tourists most often traveled to Kaunas by plane, car, RV, or motorcycle.
A tool to help the entire hospitality industry
Kaunas IN was looking for an inventive and different way to celebrate the International Tourism Day. Finally, it has decided to gift people from 26 Lithuanian cities an overnight stay in Kaunas and thus encourage them to travel and become tourists. The gifts hidden in LP Express self-service terminals were received by those, who were faster and closely followed the information on social media. Interestingly, all the gifts were found in just under 3 hours after the campaign was announced.
“We wanted the celebration to be aimed at local travelers, future tourists of Kaunas. We also wanted to encourage Lithuanians to choose Kaunas for autumn and cold season holidays,” I. Pažereckaitė-Kalėdienė said.
The representative of the agency that is taking care of tourism development in Kaunas assures that the campaign has become a great tool to help the entire hospitality industry in the city. It not only serves to increase hotel occupancy rates, but also helps attract more tourists to Kaunas museums, entertainment venues, and restaurants during the cold season. After all, arrival to the city and settling in is only the first step of a traveler, followed by pleasant quests, visits and discoveries.
At the same time, the campaign was a good reminder of the fact that autumn is the best time to travel in Lithuania. The skyline of the city becomes more pronounced against the background of colorful leaves. Even the well-known parts of nature become mysterious and a warm stay at a restaurant becomes so much cozier with a rainy weather outside. The Danes, who have a similar changeable weather, have long solved this issue and had given it a playful name of hygge. And now Lithuanians are also invited to create an exclusive vacation.
The tourism campaign that rippled through social media
Famous social network personalities, who invited their followers to take part in the game and visit Kaunas, helped to make this message heard. Agnė Kulitaitė, Aurimas Valujavičius, and Indrė Kavaliauskaitė reached more than 300 thousand people with their communication, so it’s no surprise that the gifts were grabbed immediately.
“On the day of the campaign, we received a lot of mentions and messages of joy, and now we are already waiting for the guests in Kaunas and, of course, we encourage them to share their impressions by tagging photos on social media, like so: #kaunastic and @kaunastic,” the representative of Kaunas IN, which takes care of Kaunas tourism development and dissemination, says.
Especially since the coupons inviting to spend a night in Kaunas hotels, which have joined the campaign (Radisson Hotel Kaunas, Monte Pacis, Daugirdas, Amberton Cozy, Apple Economy, Best Western Santaka, Victoria Hotel, Hof Hotel, Magnus, Ibis Kaunas Center) is valid for half a year, until March, and the tips on #kaunastic experiences can be found in Kaunastika accounts on various social media, as well as on www.visit.kaunas.lt.
