VILNIUS, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania's national tourism department will be dissolved as of next year and a new tourism agency established in order to increase tourist flows to the Baltic country, the government decided on Wednesday.
According to the government's plans, the new tourism agency "Travel in Lithuania" will be responsible for improving awareness about Lithuania abroad and developing inbound and local tourism.
"The country's tourism potential is not being fully exploited. The flow of tourists is still dependent on four seasons of the year and many tourists remain in the largest cities rather than visiting regions which have their own advantages," said economy minister Virginijus Sinkevicius in a statement released by his office.
Sinkevicius said that conference tourism, as well as health and wellness tourism, should be developed more actively in Lithuania.
"In order to achieve this, we need an organization with strong analytical, product development and marketing competences," the minister added.
According to Sinkevicius, the main goal of the reform is to separate functions of tourism marketing and tourism market supervision.
The new agency will operate under the economy ministry.
The current tourism department, which employs around 30 people, will be dissolved as of Jan. 1, 2019, the government announced.
The department had been headed by an interim director since the beginning of 2017 when the former head resigned following a scandal of fake photos representing the Baltic country.
