The UNWTO national capacity building course on Tourism Destination: Policy and Management in Lithuania, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania and the UNWTO.Themis Foundation, finalized in Vilnius on 30^th November 2012.

Delivered by Davina Stanford, Edit Szivas and Carmel Dennis, this first-ever UNWTO blended (on-site and on-line) capacity building course - launched on 17^th April 2012 in Palanga - aimed at providing the participants with knowledge, skills, tools and a forum for discussion and reflection on tourism planning, development and management as well as the key policy dimensions and examine tourism policies, the creation of tourism development plans and regulatory mechanisms and the application of these.

During the on-site phases of the course, the 35 participants, from the national and local tourism administrations, the private and third sectors and the academia, engaged in theoretical and practical presentations on Tourism Market, Impacts of Tourism, Tourism Destination Management and Sustainable Tourism Policy & Strategy, as well as did fieldwork in and on Šventoji, and gave successful presentations of their final projects on this neighbouring town of Palanga.

While in the on-line phase, they focused on Situation Analysis, Strategic Planning, Public-Private Partnership, Green Tourism, Visitor Management and Accessible Tourism, in forums led by the above-mentioned UNWTO facilitators and the following guest-experts: Alberto Sanchez Saez (Costa Rican Tourism Board), Hetty Byrne (Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in the UK), Claudia Lisboa (UNWTO Institutional and Corporate Relations Programme), Sofía Gutiérrez (UNWTO Sustainable Development of Tourism (SDT) Programme), and Chris Veitch and Ivor Ambros (European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT)).