Russia leads in Latvia

Latvia’s Central Statistical Department reports that over the first half of this year the country’s hotels attended to almost 445 thousand guests, which is 31% more compared to the same period of the previous year. The total number of foreign tourists beat its 10-years record, achieved in the first half of 2008. The best part of overseas visitors (almost 81%) stayed at Riga’s hotels.

The leading countries in the number of tourist arrivals are Russia, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Sweden. In the first six months of 2011 Russia placed first with 74.5 thousand tourist arrivals, which is almost 77% more than last year. It is followed by Estonia with 43% increase year-on-year, Italy (+38%), Sweden (+37%), Poland (+36%) and Lithuania (+31%).

Riga’s accommodation facilities welcomed 359 foreign guests over the first half of this year, having shown 30.8% growth year-on-year. The largest increase in arrivals has been recorded from the country’s covered by spring-summer promotional campaign Live Riga: Russia with 86% increase, Sweden and Estonia with 41% each and Lithuania that gained 38%.