Latvia, Port, Tourism, Transport

Modern port infrastructure is one of the key preconditions for attracting local and foreign yachtsmen, he said.

"Now we have an opportunity to cooperate towards promotion of nautical tourism in the Gulf of Riga and along the coastline of Kurzeme [Latvia's western province]. Moreover, due to international projects elsewhere in the Baltic Sea region - Estonia, Finland, Sweden and Norway, we can interest their yachtsmen to make holiday trips to our coast," Dombrovskis said.

During the season opening event, an information kiosk of the new online booking system HelloPorts was opened at the Auda yacht club. It is one of the ten such kiosks to be opened in Latvia and an element that would make small ports more easily accessible to local and foreign yachtsmen. HelloPorts kiosks help visitors to find out more about the specific port, nearby tourist attractions and available maintenance services, as well as to make bookings and pay for the services in the advance.

The new online booking system has been created as part of SmartPort, a project in the Central Baltic Sea region under the EU Interreg program. Information kiosks will be opened in several small ports in Latvia, and similar kiosks will be established also in Estonian ports.