| Abstract [eng] |
This paper examines the link between the image of Lithuania in the Russian media and Lithuania's inbound tourism from Russia (from 2014 to 2020). The share of tourists visiting Lithuania from Russia has decreased more than five times since 2014. This may be related to the way Lithuania is portrayed in the Russian media. In this paper is it tried to find a link between Lithuania's image in the Russian media and the number of incoming tourists. In the final master's thesis, empirical research methods are used – both quantitative and qualitative. Scientific texts, existing sources on the basis of which new insights can be found on the topics of tourism and the formation of the country's image have already been published and are analyzed in this paper. The main method chosen for discourse analysis in this paper is conducted through conceptual metaphors. The information used in the study was obtained by searching for the news articles on the Russian news portal “lenta.ru” by usage of the above-described method. Research starts by the identification of formed image of Lithuania in articles published between 2014 and 2020. The descriptions of Lithuania found are systematized and compared with each other by year. After identifying the images of Lithuania formed on the “lenta.ru” portal, they are compared with the share of tourists coming to Lithuania from Russia. The study revealed that there is a relationship between inbound tourism and the country's image in the foreign media. The link between the image of Lithuania formed in the Russian media "lenta.ru" in 2014-2020 and Lithuania's inbound tourism from Russia is partially confirmed. |
