Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Latvia, Tourism

She said that Jurmala's main strategic tourism markets are the Baltic States, Finland, Russia and Belarus, also active work will be carried out in the Scandinavian market, presenting Latvia's main resort. Jurmala's tourism priorities in 2016 are health and business tourism.

Latvian residents are one third of guests to Jurmala town, therefore there will be marketing activities to promote domestic tourism development as well. Last year the number of domestic tourists rose by 37%. The number of tourists from Estonia and Lithuania are also expected to rise 15-20%.

"We have been working for many years to make Jurmala more attractive not only in the summer season, but also in fall and winter. The data for the past six months show positive trends also in fall and the end of the year. We will continue work in this direction also this year, setting tourism services with high added value as the priority in the tourism sector – business tourism and health tourism that is growing its popularity recently," said the council's tourism department head Gunta Uspele, adding that the renovated Dzintari concert hall will contribute to development of the tourism sector.

Medical tourism will be promoted this year, advertising services of Jurmala hospital, rehabilitation centers, and also new and unique services, such as the new Global Virotherapy Cancer Clinic.

Jurmala's latest offer also includes the new 12-hall conference center in Semarah Lielupe Hotel that will be opened in summer. There are a total of 16 hotels, sanatoriums, training centers and culture institutions available for conferences, seminars and other business events in Jurmala. Business tourism in Jurmala will be promoted in two leading business fairs in Europe – on April 19-21 in Frankfurt and The Meeting Show in London, said Leite.

Jurmala this year will take part in a total of 18 fairs, covering such countries as Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Baltic states, Russia, Belarus, the UK, Azerbaijan. Norway and Denmark are new markets for Jurmala, but work in these markets started a couple of years ago has already brought fruit.

Jurmala also plans to continue work with foreign tourism media, travel bloggers, and update the city’s tourism website www.visitjurmala.lv.