Industrial tourism is growing in the country, with a number of factories and plants offering tours for visitors. For some, it is more than just about showcasing industrial heritage.
Last year, around 8,000 tourists visited Gubernija a brewery in the northern town of Šiauliai. It is the oldest company in the country, having operated for 360 years. Interest from tourism is growing, so the company decided to invest around half a million euros in refurbishing its historic building, which is a cultural heritage site, and installing a visitor centre.
“Our territory is home to one of the oldest buildings in Šiauliai, only the church is older. It is a former malt house. [...] There will also be guided tours, tastings and various themed evenings,” promises Vidmantė Mickevičienė, Visitor Centre Manager at MV Group Production.
Tourists are also invited to wander around the cellars of Gubernija. They were used not only to store barrels of beer but also smuggled books during the late nineteenth-century ban on publishing in the Latin alphabet.
Šiauliai has another prominent site of industrial tourism, the centenary chocolate factory Rūta, by far the town’s most popular.
Last year, around 23,000 people visited the factory and the numbers are growing every year. Visitors are not only interested in the history of chocolate making but also want to try the production of sweets and see the factory.
“You can learn about the history of chocolate, the history of Rūta. Many people are surprised that chocolate is very old, 4–5 thousand years old, and for a long time it wasn’t what we usually have today, hard and sweet. For a long time, chocolate was a drink, consumed without sugar and even with some pepper,” says Meilutė Šimaitė, Rūta’s tour and education leader.
According to Rūta Stankuvienė, head of the Šiauliai Tourism Information Centre, industrial heritage is becoming a highly popular attraction. People are increasingly swapping museums for tours of factories and mills.
This trend is particularly favourable for Šiauliai, as the town has long been one of Lithuania’s industrial hubs.
“People cannot see production processes and technologies every day, which is why industrial sightseeing is really gaining popularity every year,” notes Stankuvienė.
Even manufacturing companies are welcoming tourists. However, they have different objectives – not only to show their production processes but also to attract employees.
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