Riga City Council reports the city is preparing for a surge of tourists. Statistical data from the start of the year indicates that the number of hotel bookings shows that the total number of tourists may reach 80% of pre-pandemic numbers this year.
This means the number of guest to Latvia’s capital city may exceed one million after a break of several years, according to estimates from Riga Investment and Tourism Agency.
This year’s tourist season will see the biggest sports, culture and entertainment events in recent years: Rimi Riga Marathon, IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship, XXVII Latvian Song and XVII Dance Celebration, Positivus Music Festival, Riga summer culture programme and Riga’s birthday celebration. At the end of the tourist season, Riga will host the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships. The Spring Riga Restaurants Week (17th – 30th April) will be attended by 56 restaurants – a record number.
«All of these events will have a positive effect on both the tourism sector and economic development of the city. All of them are organised using funding from the municipality. A great deal of work was put into organisation of these events to welcome many foreign tourists to Riga!
It is a very positive signal that the hotels that closed down during the pandemic are opening again,»
says Mayor of Riga Mārtiņš Staķis.
According to information on ticket sales, at least 20 000 foreign guests are sure to arrive for the ice hockey championship. The Song and Dance Celebration traditionally gathers a large number of Latvians. Positivus Festival is sure to have more foreign guests than last year, when travel was restricted by the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Latvian national airline airBaltic plans for the number of passengers to reach 90% of the numbers of 2019. Flights to new destinations will be opened. These include Hanover, Yerevan, Baku. For the first year direct flights connecting Dubai and Riga will be available in summer as well. The United Arab Emirates represent a market with great potential, because a large number of Europeans that live in Dubai like to spend their holiday in Europe. Having direct flight connectivity is an important condition to have these passengers pick Riga and Latvia.
Foreign companies and international associations pick Riga more and more often as a destination for tourist activities. The tourism support programme has provided 75% of its available funding in the first three months. This indicates that when it comes to business tourism, Riga is once again attractive to organisers of international conferences.
Many popular hotels in Riga that previously closed their doors during the pandemic will reopen soon. Latvian Hotel and Restaurant Association estimates that hotels will be 90% full this season.
During the non-season months hotels will be 60-70% full. In January 2023 the number of booked rooms in hotels in Riga had already reached 84% of the numbers from 2019. Tallink Hotel Riga and Metropole by Semarah Hotels will open before the start of the active tourist season.
Last year’s data and data for January 2023 indicate that the number of guests from other Baltic States, Finland and the UK is expected to increase the most. Germany’s market is recovering slightly slower than expected. This can be explained by the fact that this country is popular for group tourism. Group bookings were cancelled the most following the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The tourism sector started recovering from the pandemic and overall negative influence from the war in the second half of 2022.
In 2022 Riga was the TOP1 destination for Baltic travellers. Riga was visited by more than 200 000 travellers from both of Latvia’s neighbouring countries. Tallinn was visited by 110 000 Latvian and Lithuanian citizens and Vilnius was visited by 77 000 Latvian and Estonian tourists.
Riga remains a leader among Baltic capitals in attracting tourists from Germany (30% more when compared with Tallinn and Vilnius) and from Britain (45% more when compared with Tallinn and 35% more when compared with Vilnius). At the same time, the overall statistical data is affected by the lack of Russian and Belarusian tourists. Instead it is necessary to compensate this loss with tourists from Scandinavia and Western Europe, Riga City Council explains.
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