Russian tourists slowly return to Riga

In Q3 2016, foreign guests spent 753,347 nights in hotels and other places of accommodation in Riga, which is 4.6% more in comparison with the same period of 2015. The number of tourists has increased by 7.8%, reaching 420,780 in Q3.

The majority of tourists came from Germany, Russia, Finland, Estonia and the UK.

Analysis of statistical data shows that Riga’s hotels and other places of accommodation were visited the most by guests from Germany (14.6%), Russia (9.0%), Finland (7.5%), Estonia (6.7%), UK (5.5%), Lithuania (5.5%), Sweden (4.8%), Norway (4.5%), Italy (4.3%) and Spain (3.7%), according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia.

«Data compiled for Q3 of 2016 shows that there has been a significant increase in the number of tourists – last year’s growth was 2% for the same period. Aside from the aforementioned foreign tourists, Riga is most often visited by tourists from countries like USA, Poland, France and Asia. Although those regions are not our target markets, we see their potential is great. Statistics also show that Russian tourists are gradually returning to Riga. Many representatives of the tourism sector and hotel business view them as one of the most important tourist groups,» – chairperson of Riga Tourism Development Bureau Vita Jermolovica comments on data from Q3.

Because stable growth has been present in the past ten months, it is expected this tendency will remain in the last three months of 2016. Jermolovica adds: «Most of the tourists come to Riga for Christmas. They visit Christmas markets, look at exhibits of Christmas trees’ path festival and buy presents for their loved ones. New Year’s celebration also gathers many foreign tourists.»

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