The number of visas issued by the Consulate of the Estonian Embassy inRussia
in 2012 has grown 45% to 29 thousand as against 20 thousand in 2011. This was announced
by the Estonian consul in Moscow Ms. Tiju Viljasaar at the seminar Healthy Summer
2013. According to her, the number of issued visas, including multi-visas, goes
up every year, and this year's start only confirms the positive development.
As was specified by the manager for the Russian-speaking market of the
Estonian Tourism Development Center (ETDC), Ms. Agnia Nast, last year, there were
129 thousand applications for Estonian visas for recreational, business and other
trips; 48 thousand of them came through the Moscow Consulate. In 2012, Estonia welcomed
266 thousand Russians who spent almost 594 thousand overnights at the country's
hotels and other accommodation facilities; this is 25% more compared to 2011 (476
thousand overnights). "In terms of the inbound flow, Russia ranks second after Finland. But over
the last three years, the flow's seasonality have become more visible as most visitors
come during the summer months," noted Ms. Nast. "We are trying to level
it off by attracting visitors with various off-season activities." For this
purpose, ETDC has interviewed a thousand respondents in Moscow
and the same number in Saint Petersburg
to reveal their travel plans in relation to their income, age, and other factors.
It turned out that the Estonian capital mostly attracts people aged from 17 to 44.
"We're especially interested in this group of tourists, but would be happy
to welcome older visitors as well," Agnia Nast pointed out. According to her
observations, many tourists combine trips to Tallinn with neighboring Nordic countries.
Despite the fact that the Russians do express interest in Estonian regions,
Tallinn remains
the country's main tourist magnet. According to Irina Svidlov, a spokeswoman of
Tallinn Tourist Office, the previous year turned out to be rather successful for
the capital city; it welcomed 2.7 million foreign tourists including cruise passengers
and one-day-visitors. All in all, 1.5 million tourists stayed at accommodation facilities
on a paying basis, bringing a total overnights count to 3 million and an average
length of stay to two nights.
During the previous year, 180 thousand Russian tourists spent at least
one night in Tallinn,
whereas in 2011 this figure amounted to 143 thousands. The Russian share in the
total inbound tourist flow makes up 14% (11% in 2011). "Russia belongs with
the fastest growing markets. It's been four years since the country has been holding
on to the second place in the list of tourist-bringing countries. Only the Finns
with 43% of the flow are ahead of Russia; the Germans follow with the
share of 6%. It's interesting that every third tourist coming from Russia to Tallinn
comes alone," Irina Svidlov continues. According to her, the Russians' expenses
per person add up to €384 – more than twice as much as the average; out of this
sum, €272 goes for shopping, on which an average visitor spends €98.
