THE AWARENESS AND IMAGE OF LATVIA AS A TOURISM DESTINATION IN GERMANY AS A HIGH PRIORITY TARGET MARKET

Purpose: The aim of the research is to examine the image of Latvia as a tourism destination among potential travelers in Germany as a high priority target market of Latvian tourism. Three research questions that have been raised are: RQ1. What is the level of recognition and awareness of Latvia as a tourism destination in Germany? RQ2. What are the associations with Latvia as a tourism destination in terms of key words and colours and how they comply with the Latvian tourism brand concept? RQ3. What is the image of Latvia in terms of several attributes of a tourism destination? Methodology: To achieve the aim of the study a survey of German residents was carried out. The survey was conducted in June 2015 among local population of Germany in federal states of Bayern and Baden-Wurttemberg. The questionnaire was made to determine the recognition and the image of Latvia as a tourism destination as well as to determine the associations in connection with Latvia expressed via key words and colours. SPSS software tools were used for analysing the data: descriptive statistics, cross tabulation, data correlation. Results: The results of the research show that the knowledge of German residents about Latvia as a travel destination is poor; the Latvian tourism brand concept both in colour and keyword terms correspond with the German citizens' perceptions about Latvia; German residents' associations with holiday travel in terms of colours meet Latvian tourism brand concept; German residents' associations with holiday travel in key words partly correspond with the Latvian tourism brand concept. Suggestions are addressed towards Tourism Department of Latvian Investment and Development Agency to improve marketing communication with Germany as a high priority tourism market of Latvia.