Lithuania continues to seek head for Department of Tourism

Lithuania's Ministry of Economy plans to announce another contest to find a head for the state's Department of Tourism after the first round failed to select one, the ministry said in its press release on Thursday.

The chief post of the department has been left vacant since a scandal of fake photos representing the Baltic country forced the resignation of the former director.

According to the ministry, 10 applications were submitted for the first contest, but only two entered the selection process after three were found unqualified and the other five withdrew.

"According to the rules, the candidate is declared as a winner if he or she collects the highest score in the scale up to 10, but not less than 6 points; however, both candidates were below this mark," Nerijus Rudaitis, chairman of contest commission and chancellor at the Ministry of Economy was quoted as saying in the press release.

The former head of Department of Tourism Jurgita Kazlauskiene resigned this February after her department was criticized for using fake photos to illustrate Lithuania's landscape in a marketing campaign with slogan "Lithuania, Real is Beautiful."

Local media say some of the photos have been purchased from websites Shutterstock or Flickr, including some taken in Slovakia and Finland.

Lithuania launched the "Real is Beautiful" campaign in October last year, aiming to draw more tourists to its sandy beaches and lush woodlands. Endit