Evaluation of Public Transportation for Tourists in Riga

Introduction 3 1. Public transportation for tourist needs 4 1.1. History of tourism transportation 4 1.2. Transportation modes 5 2. The public transportation accessibility, convenience in Riga 8 2.1. Buying tickets, prices 8 2.2. Buses 9 2.2.1. Tickets 10 2.2.2. Journey times 10 2.2.3. Useful information 11 2.3. Rail 11 2.3.1. Tickets 12 2.3.2. Useful information 12 3. Analysis of tourist questionnaire 13 Suggestions and recommendations for the public authorities. 19 References 20 APPENDIX 21 Introduction Latvia is one of the three Baltic States and is located between Lithuania and Estonia, in the North-East of Europe and at the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The landscape of Latvia is characterized by lowlands and hilly uplands. Most part of the country is elevated not higher than 100 m above sea level, with no high mountains but plenty of rivers and lakes. The aim of this research is to evaluate public transportation for tourists in Riga. The tasks while the preparation of the study paper consists of the following: 1. to analyze theoretical part about public transportation for tourist needs; 2. to describe the public transportation accessibility, convenience in Riga; 3. to make research by using tourist questionnaire in order to analyse tourist opinion about public transport in Riga; 4. to analyse the result from tourists; 5. to give suggestions and recommendations for public authorities. 1. Public transportation for tourist needs Tourism sector is one of the main important sectors of the economy. Many countries take advantage of covering the budget deficit with the help of profits coming from tourism. That is why tourism sometimes is called a factory without chimney. But tourism has its own unique features that differentiate this sector from the others. Like in the other service industries, in tourism the customers, that is, thetourists come to the destination where the tourism services are provided.