The Development of the Community-Based Tourism Concept and its Practical Self-Awareness / Bendruomenių turizmo konceptas ir jo praktinė savivoka

Research on community-based tourism encompasses urban and rural landscapes, the local architectural heritage, local traditions and customs, ethnography, historical events, cultural preservation events, and biographical studies of notable local people. This body of knowledge encourages communities to conduct systematic research, and to identify and highlight the most important factors and values, which can then serve as the basis for creating and organising tourism itineraries designed to introduce visitors to communities as an alternative form of cultural tourism. The community tourism model is a new sector in the Lithuanian tourism system. Therefore, it has virtually no practical applications, and is still in its formative stages. The aim is to highlight the significance of community-based tourism among Klaipėda’s communities as a promising branch of alternative cultural tourism, based on which the community-based tourism model and research methodology can be adapted for use in communities in other regions.