In the TV24 program “Press Club”, discussing the tourism industry and Latvia’s image in the world, the question was asked – how much do we as a country invest in marketing so that people know about us? “Okay, we have Porzingis, Bertans, we have the 5th place in the world in the FIBA Cup, we are hot in hockey, we have Garanca… That’s the investment, isn’t it?” asked the presenter. The answer to this question was given in the program by Āriks Lingebērziņš, who is the dean of the Faculty of International Tourism of the “Turība” University of Business, the chairman of the board of the Association of Latvian Tourism Operators and Agents, saying that an analogy came to his mind in connection with this.
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“We have the dough that we knead, we even make patties, but we don’t put them in the oven! And then we hope that those raw patties will be tasty, but they are not. It is largely the same with tourism. We have that resource. Yes, we don’t have the Eiffel Tower, we don’t have the pyramid and we don’t have a very warm sea in the summer, but we don’t need it everywhere. We shouldn’t have so many tourists either. But we don’t sell what we have,” Lingebērzins, an expert in the tourism industry, commented on the TV24 program.
Lingebērziņš told one of them how big the Estonian tourism marketing budget for 2023 is – it is 18 million euros, while Latvia’s budget is 2 million euros. In addition, according to hotel data, the number of tourists in Estonia in 2023 in certain segments and certain stages exceeds the indicators of 2019. “The business is developing, but in Latvia we are not until 2019 [rādītājiem – red.] we don’t get there, we still need about 30%,” Lingebērzins emphasized. Moreover, in the previous period, the number of tourists, including Russian tourists, in Estonia and Latvia was similar. “Yes, Estonians have a strategic priority with Finland, but those numbers are going up,” he noted.
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To the retort that Latvia has the national airline “airBaltic”, which is the “gate that brings us business and tourists”, where is it? Lingebērzins replied: “Our own travelers are much more active and keen on traveling, as a result of which what remains free, maybe bounces off to a tourist… But compared again with Lithuania and Estonia, where Lithuania has the dominance of low-cost airlines at the Vilnius airport, but that effect is that the number of nights spent and the money spent are better in Lithuania,” emphasized Lingebērziņš.
Therefore, it is also a question of the long-term priorities of “airBaltic”. “It is one thing, of course, to offer convenient connections to our residents, but we have to talk and we also invite airBaltic to think about it more and more often, how to more effectively use this strategic priority that we have an airport. We also have an airport with big development plans, we have a national airline, which is a huge strategic advantage compared to the Lithuanians and Estonians, and this is again a story about dough and pies,” said Turība of the Business School “Turība” in the TV24 program “Press Club”. Dean of the Faculty of International Tourism, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Latvian Tourism Operators and Agents Lingebērziņš.
It has already been announced that the number of nights spent by guests in Latvian hotels and other tourist accommodations increased by 19.1% in the seven months of this year compared to the corresponding period of 2022, amounting to 2.525 million, according to the data of the Central Statistics Office on September 14 of this year.
Among them, the number of nights spent by foreign guests in Latvian hotels and other tourist accommodation in the seven months of 2023 compared to the corresponding period of 2022 increased by 33.9% and was 1.468 million, while the number of nights spent by local residents in Latvian hotels and other tourist accommodation increased by 3 .3% and amounted to 1.057 million.
In general, in the seven months of 2023, 1.393 million guests were served in Latvian tourist accommodation, which is 18.4% more than in the seven months of 2022, including the number of served foreign guests increased by 34.1% and was 785,300, while the number of served local residents increased by 2.8% to 607,900.
On the other hand, compared to the pre-pandemic period – the corresponding period of 2019 – the number of guests served in Latvian tourist accommodation in the seven months of 2022 is 15.1% lower, while the number of nights spent by guests lags behind the data of the seven months of 2019 by 20.4%.
The Statistical Office states that before the pandemic – in July 2019 – the number of tourists from Russia was the second largest among countries after Germany. Excluding tourists from Russia, the number of guests served in July 2023 is 1.4% higher than in July 2019. The most foreign guests were received from Lithuania – 48,400, Estonia – 32,400, Finland – 26,500, Germany – 21,700, the United Kingdom – 8,500, Poland – 8,300 and the USA – 8,200.
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The most foreign guests were received in Riga – 54.5%, Jurmala – 14.9%, Liepāja – 3.8%, Sigulda county – 3.2%, Ventspils – 2.9%, Limbažu county – 2.7%, Cēsu county – 2.2% and in Mārupe county – 2.1%.
At the same time, the most popular places for Latvian residents to stay were in Riga, where 15.7% of guests stayed, Liepāja – 7%, Jūrmala – 6.6%, Limbažu district – 5.4%, Cēsi district – 5%, Talsi district – 4.5% , in Kuldīgas county – 4.4% and in Sigulda county – 4.1%.
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2023-10-04 11:11:52
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