The northern-most Baltic nation of Estonia was visited by 22 percent more travellers from Latvia than in the first month of 2016, Estonian statisticians have estimated.

In 2016, 2.3 million visitors were hosted at Latvian tourist accommodation establishments, which was 7.7 % more than the year before. The respective indicator has increased by 75 % from the 1.3 million hosted in 2010.

Last year’s tendency shows that many Latvian travellers have found new destinations to their liking. This especially applies to Asian countries. This is related to the general improvement of the economic situation, notes Latvia Tours corporate solutions specialist Janis Kolomenskis.

On holidays, from Christmas to 1 January 2017, tourist information centres in Riga were visited by 17% more tourists than last year, according to information from Riga Tourism Development Bureau.

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.

A total of 862.3 thousand visitors stayed at Latvian accommodation establishments over Q3 2016, which was 10.3% more than during the corresponding period of the previous year. Compared with Q3 2015, the number of nights spent by visitors has increased by 7.9%. The average duration of a visitor’s stay at an accommodation establishment was 1.9 nights.

LSM - In September 2016 the Rīga International Airport airport received 494,729 passengers, up 5.2% from the same month in 2015, the airport told the press.

Tourism Research Centre’s manager Eriks Lingeberzins explains the topical tourism trends and what has changed under influence of terrorism.

Estonia remained one of the most popular destinations for Latvia tourists this year. In the first six months of 2016, Estonia was visited by more than 60,000 tourists from Latvia.

There were 612.9 thousand visitors who stayed in Latvian accommodation establishments in Q2 2016, which was 6.1 % more than during the corresponding period of the previous year. As compared to Q2 2015, the number of nights spent by visitors has increased by 6.6 %.