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The New Wave to stay in Jurmala for another year. Operators are glad

08:07, 16 марта 2012

The international youth pop music festival called The New Wave will be held in Jurmala this year after all. News of the festival being moved to another city came just before the Balttour-2012 travel forum, and caused shock among local hoteliers and tour operators, many of which have already booked rooms in Jurmala's hotels for the festival.

For almost a month the market players had no idea what would be the final decision of the organizing committee headed by Igor Krutoy. Tour sales were fully stopped during that time. During a press conference Mr. Krutoy said that the dialogue between the festival organizing committee and the Jurmala city Duma had reached a “critical point”. It’s possible to assume that the main issue was the poor condition of the Dzintari concert hall, where the festival was successfully held during the last 10 years. Riga, Palanga, Sanremo and even Monte-Carlo were viewed as possible alternatives. But as Anastasia Ginters, General Manager of ABClub said half the hotel rooms and 80% of The New Wave tickets were sold even before the news of the festival moving was announced.

According to Mrs. Ginters festival days (this year it will be held on July 24-28) have always been extra-popular with Russian tourists. If the festival was moved, not just tour operators and hoteliers would suffer sufficient losses, but the whole city of Jurmala, thinks the expert. “But luckily this year everything remains the same. We have not received a single cancellation while the question of the festival’s location was open”, - she stated to RATA-news.

It’s no secret that the cost of Jurmala hotels during the festival is 2.5-3 times above average – €200 price tag is the standard. Marina Matveeva, Manager of the Latvian department in Zharkov Tour said: “Tourists are not really put off by the prices. We have many returning customers”. She also noted that the prices for the entrance tickets rose by 30%, yet everything was mostly sold out by January.

“Jurmala hospitality sector would really lose a lot if the festival was to be moved. It’s a promotion of Jurmala as a resort destination for Russians as well as a chance to make some profit from tourists in Jurmala and Riga. But I really don’t think that tour operators would lose much. The tourist flow to Jurmala is pretty steady during the whole summer season. It’s just that selling these tours would take more time”, - assumed Mrs. Matveeva.

It’s worth noting that the question of where to hold The New Wave in 2013 is still open. But tour operators note that the city has other popular cultural events. For instance, the KVN (student stand-up comedy) festival is held here and it attracts quite a crowd of Russian tourists.

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