The highest observation tower in Lithuania has a new monitoring system: more than 1,300 visitors were received during the festive period

During the festive period, the tower in Biršton was visited by more than 1,300 visitors who were not afraid to climb the 300 steps and admire the winter panorama of the Nemunas loops.

On Christmas Day - 235, on January 1st - 295, and during the whole festive period - as many as 1320 visitors who climbed to the highest observation tower to admire the loops of the largest Lithuanian river - the Nemunas. These numbers were recorded for the first time in December by a visitor flow calculator installed at the initiative and with the funds of the Birštonas municipality, which is one of the first in the country to operate in the observation tower.

"Until now, we could monitor the flow of incoming tourists only in the old town of Birštonas, on the Nemunas embankment, but we did not have any visitor monitoring on the other side of the resort - the observation tower, so the new calculator will help determine and estimate the number of one-day visitors, which can be monitored in real time on the Birštonas tourism information website . This is another advanced monitoring system in Birštona next to the already installed cyclist and pedestrian calculator in Žvērinčiaus forest and the interactive system of parking spaces in Algirdos street," says Rūta Kapačinskaitė, director of the Birštona tourism information center.

The visitor flow calculator in the Birštonas observation tower works on the principle of radio frequency and sends the collected data via the Internet to the cloud storage as soon as the perimeter of the observation tower is crossed - the passage through the tower gate. The counter is designed to calculate the flow of visitors to the tower and regulate it for safety. When the number of 40 visitors in the tower is reached at the same time, the message STOP is displayed on the monitor above the entrance to the tower, because this is the design limit of safe attendance and load of the tower.

The observation deck of the tower is located at a height of 45 meters, and the height of the entire tower is 55 meters. When climbing the tower, there are six resting places, because it is difficult to overcome such a height without rest. After climbing the 300 steps of the tower, visitors can see the Nemunas loops, the panorama of Birštonas and the Nemunas valley. In front of the tower there is a rest area and a stand where you can familiarize yourself with the landscape of the Nemunas Loop Regional Park. According to the collected data of the calculator, it can be seen that the most popular time to visit the tower is between 12:00 p.m. and 2 p.m.

In December of last year, the top of the highest observation tower in Lithuania was also decorated with stationary lighting. Until then, it was illuminated only on special occasions, but after the application of smart and economical LED lighting, the top of the tower lights up every day of the week: from 6 to 8 a.m. in the mornings, 16:00-24:00 in the evenings, and during holidays or memorable occasions - all night.