Number of British tourists in Estonia down 70% in a year
24.11.2009, 15:46Estonia was visited by about 4,000 British tourists in the second quarter that is 69.2% less than a year ago, said the UK statistical office.
Sven Lõokene, president of the Estonian association of travel agencies, says that the number of incoming British tourists has been falling on a consistent basis. "The main reason is that the economic recession in UK started earlier than in most other EU countries including Estonia," said Lõokene.
Lõokene added that since the number of connections to Estonia has also been declining, it is simply too complicated for British tourists to reach Estonia and they choose a different destination.
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The third reason is the strength of the British pound to the euro and the kroon.
Also Peep Ehasalu from Sokos Hotel Viru admitted that the number of British tourists visiting Tallinn had fallen sharply. "There are now half fewer British tourists in our hotel, but their share of the total has always been small," said he.
in the first quarter, the number of British tourists visiting Estonia fell 56% year on year. Last year Estonia was visited by 37% fewer British tourists than in 2007.
Latvia was visited by 11.1% fewer British tourists this year, while the number of British tourists visiting Lithuania in the second quarter was 30% higher than a year ago.