Systemic view on tourism as an economic activity is the best way how to characterise an economic nature of this industry. The paper presents the methodology which integrates the system approach and other research methods of social sciences; this methodology forms the basis for identification of social agents and models of tourism system. The methodology is approbated in the survey of providers of rural tourism services in Zemgale planning region. The research results are useful in future application of models for development of tourism whereas the models are useful for other purposes: they can provide additional information necessary for evaluation of tourism influence on economy. They form a basis for detecting participants in tourism clusters in regions and for evaluation of cooperation between social agents of public, nongovernmental and private sectors, and as an instrument in tourism marketing strategies.

The municipalities of Latvia are different in terms of business development level. Latvia’s regions are grouped into clusters based on several indicators: number of economically active individual merchants and commercial companies per 1000 capita, territorial development index, and proportion of working-age population. In addition to the business indicators, the following tourism indicators were selected: number of recreational establishments, number of bedplaces, number of individual rooms, number of farms and individual merchants making use of culinary heritage. All these indicators are statistically significant for clustering municipalities. The clustering was performed by employing K-Means clustering and using the data processing programme SPSS. All Latvia’s municipalities were divided into four clusters based on the business development level and the level of exploitation of tourism infrastructure and culinary heritage. The analysis results enable conclusions to be made that a positive correlation exists between the business environment development level, and the level of use of tourism and culinary heritage. Culinary heritage is an important additional possibility for fostering business and economic growth in Latvia’s municipalities. A linear multifactor regression equation was obtained, which associated the revenues of the operating budget of a municipality with the following statistically significant factors: population density, territorial development index, expenditure on economic activity development, number of economically active entrepreneurs and commercial companies, number of tourism establishments, and number of enterprises dealing with culinary heritage. The analysis of regression equation coefficients points to the positive effects of all the factors included in the equation on the revenues of the basic budget of a municipality.

The positive place image attracts investors, foreign and national guests, creates the local residents’ pride and distinguishes it form the competing locations. Project activities are completed/or being carried out under the funding of the European Union and the Republic of Lithuania. The research problem: do project activities form positive place image? The research object – place image formation carrying out project activities. The purpose of the article – to analyze the implemented projects by Silale district Municipality and investigate their impact on the location image formation in Silale district. Research objectives are: (1) to identify and investigate the factors impacting the formation of Silale district Image; (2) to analyze and assess the project activities performed by Silale district Municipality. For the research completion the methods of questionnaire survey and content analysis were applied. The gained research outcome has disclosed that project activities in Silale district are focused to the restoration and beautifying of environment, but not on the investors, and there are not carried out any investment attraction projects. Two segments – local residents and tourists – received the benefit from the project activities in Silale district.

Rural areas in Poland are characterized by great diversity in their functional spatial structure. Throughout history, their distinct features have been shaped by natural, historical and socio-economic factors. The aim of this study was to analyze the changes in the functional spatial structure of North-Eastern Poland. The analysis involved a comparison of data for 1988 and 2012. Research data was supplied mainly by the Central Statistical Office in Poland. The key drivers of change in the investigated region are agriculture, tourism, forestry and environmentally-friendly industrial processes. The results of the economic and social development are constantly changing in rural areas. Based on analysis, the functional structure of rural areas in North-Eastern Poland between 1988 and 2012 shows that they are more diversified. Over the years, rural areas in North-Eastern Poland were identified with agriculture but now they have multifunctional character.

Rural areas in Poland are vastly differentiated in their level of social and economic development. Adverse natural, social, economic and technological processes contribute to the formation of problem areas. Negative phenomena can spread across several municipalities, contributing to the number and severity of problems. Rural municipalities characterized by a low level of social and technical development are not attractive sites for prospective investors or home buyers. Geographical location can also contribute to the formation of problem areas. The Region of Warmia and Mazury borders the Kaliningrad Region, and it is one of the least developed areas in Poland. Rural areas in Warmia and Mazury are characterized by significant disparities in the level of social and economic development. The aim of this paper was to identify problem rural areas in the Region of Warmia and Mazury based on indicators of social, demographic, economic and infrastructure development. Problem areas in the Region of Warmia and Mazury were identified using Hellwig’s taxonomic measure of development. The results of our analysis indicate that in rural areas in the Region of Warmia and Mazury, the most severe problems are observed in typically agricultural municipalities which have a peripheral location and where state-owned farms had acted as the main employer.

Tourism industry is becoming one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Considering its significance in the economy of many countries, the research in tourism is growing, as well. Achieving to develop tourism industry, tourist satisfaction becomes a considerable goal for many countries. In this article, rural tourism is taken into consideration. However, scientific research in the field of Lithuanian rural tourist satisfaction is still scarce. Therefore, the level of Lithuanian rural tourist satisfaction and the factors determining their satisfaction are being determined in current research aiming to elaborate Rural Tourist Satisfaction Index in Lithuanian framework. Research results highlighted that the determinants of Lithuanian rural tourist satisfaction are: ‘accommodation and catering’, ‘destination aesthetics’, ‘environmental preservation’, ‘destination marketing’ and ‘perceived value’. Rural tourists in Lithuania value the benefits of ‘green marketing’, amenities and the efforts of expanding the variety of activities; the emphasis of all these aspects is perceived as ‘destination marketing’. On the other hand, levels of activities in rural destinations, quality of accommodation and catering, and aesthetics in Lithuanian rural destinations are insufficient. Enhancing these aspects could result in higher satisfaction and loyalty levels of rural tourists, and that would contribute to the rural tourism development in Lithuania.

The article deals with the implementation of the LEADER programme in Poland. The aim of the paper was to present the influence of the LEADER programme 2007 – 2013 on rural areas development taking into account its objectives. This topic is current in the context of the Rural Development Programme 2007 – 2013 evaluation and search for effective tools for supporting rural areas. The results of research conducted in 2016 among residents and local action groups are presented. Firstly, the LEADER programme had little impact on the possibility of finding work outside the agriculture. Secondly, the realized projects have contributed to the improvement of the quality of life of the residents in rural areas, especially when it comes to meeting the needs of tourism and leisure. The programme was of great importance in underpinning social capital in the countryside, especially its behavioural and bonding dimension. It is very significant taking into account the low level of social capital in rural areas in Poland. An overall level of activity of rural residents and other entities increased, so as the propensity to engage in joint initiatives and the level of trust. The observed effects of the LEADER programme may in the future contribute significantly to the endogenous development of rural areas.

The aim of the research is to prepare proposals for assurance of the business clusters formation regarding the regional development potential upon study of the clusterization of Lithuanian regional companies. After extensive analysis of scientific literature, the qualification of the cluster, their structure, main features, goals and benefits to its members, region, and sector where cluster is based, are observed. From analysis of relevant secondary data the main problems that hinder the development of clusters in distinct regions of Lithuania are distinguished. It is revealed that clusterization in Lithuanian regions lags far behind big cities, it is much more passive and clusters there often reach only the level of a micro-cluster. Clusters are most developed in the tourism and food industries, using traditional means instead of high-techs, failing to benefit from EU support for clustering development. In order to improve the clusterization situation in Lithuania and its development in the regions, more attention and investment are to be allocated for promoting cooperation between the companies and the business and science, research sectors, and joining the international cluster. The state support should be prioritized in the rural regions locating less clusters, forming a reliable means and communication network for these clusters’ development.

The aim of this paper is to summarise the experience gained at different levels of tourism destination planning in Latvia, identify the problems encountered during strategy planning and implementation, analyse the causes, and search for solutions. Theoretical aspects of the tourist destination planning have been extensively reviewed in publications, yet the research on what main problems planners have faced during the planning process, has been insufficient. In the last twenty years of Latvian tourist destination planning, at different levels, part of the plans were developed as documents; however, not all of them were implemented. The qualitative research summarises the experience of municipalities and tourism destination planning in Latvia. The research results show formally drafted tourism development documents of different levels and types in Latvia conform to modern planning theory and practice. In some cases even the latest knowledge and experience; create unique, innovative and competitive solutions. Tourism planning at the local level is often a painful process which raises a number of unresolved issues and unimplemented activities. The most significant differences observed from a comparison of theory and good planning practices in tourism development planning in Latvia are that the planning process is implemented within the boundaries of one municipality without taking into account the larger boundaries of tourist destinations. The involvement of entrepreneurs has only been formal and major, large-scale investment projects have not been planned or implemented.

The authors explore ways to combine the use of traditional and mobile positioning data (as Big Data) in assessing the economic impact (EI) of tourism in specific regional areas in line with the opportunities of the digital age. In order to provide an automated evaluation of the tourism EI, a study is being carried out resulting in technical development of a prototype for two interconnected digital applications – ‘Data Bank’ and ‘Data Analysis’ – as a unified solution for research in the e-environment. The study is based on the research work started in 2017 that resulted in the development of a theoretical strategic model for the construction of the prototype. Continuing the research, the aim of this publication is to develop a theoretical tactical (technological action) model needed for the practical development of the prototype, incl. for the identification of prerequisites to develop the Software Design Description (SDD) of the prototype. To this end, the technological capabilities and their collaborative effects have been investigated in line with the requirements included in the prototype Software Requirements Specification (SRS). Performing the qualitative research, the tactical model has been developed, which designates the practical construction of the prototype. It consists of a combination and joint operation of 4 platforms (servers) – Apache Ambari, Apache Hadoop Ecosystem, Drupal and Jupyter Notebook. The strengths of the model, the risky features as well as the future perspectives for the practical implementation of the goal have been discovered during the research.