Baltic States – CIS, Financial Services, Latvia, Tourism

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 01:45

Sharp reduction in number of Russian tourists visiting Latvia at end-2014

BC, Riga, 18.12.2014.Print version
There has been a sharp decline in Russian demand for Christmas and New Year holidays in 2014 in Latvia, and some tourism operators have even seen a 70% drop in the number of clients from Russia, according to tourism operators questioned by LETA.

As Latvia Tours director Ieva Keisa points out, demand for holidays to Latvia have dropped considerably this week due to the weakening of the Russian ruble. ''The rapid plunge of the Russian currency this week has led to even less demand for holidays to Latvia, as Russian residents are investing their savings into tangible items, instead of trips abroad,'' she said.

 

Keisa said that Latvian tour operators are seeing between 40 to 70% reductions in tourists from Russia when compared to just last year.

 

She added that the number of Russian reservations for Christmas and New Year holidays through Latvia Tours at the moment is only about 20% of last year's reservations.

 

The AFP news agency reports that the ruble rallied in early trading Thursday.

 

The struggling Russian unit was at 61.59 to the dollar after plunging to 80 earlier in the week, and at 74.21 against the euro after previously hitting 100.






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