Good for Business, Lithuania, Tourism, Transport

With the boom in tourism, other areas of Kaunas' economy have started to pick up too, including retail, construction and more, revitalizing this charming city and spurring renewed vigour into its development, writes LETA/ELTA.

The growth in these sectors is attributed directly to the increasing number of foreign visitors, says the city's mayor Rimantas Mikaitis. Since Irish-based low-cost carrier Ryanair started operating flights to Kaunas in 2010, the city has been resurrected from the point of collapse, he explains.

"The old town of Kaunas was almost dead, but now the new tourist arrivals have helped us out so much. For once, our small businesses actually feel very optimistic about the future," said Mikaitis.

"Starting from May 2010, our galleries, souvenir shops, restaurants – they have all been much more successful. Getting Ryanair to fly here has been a very positive thing for us."

Occupancy rates and patronage in the city's hotels and restaurants has soared in 2011, with the latest available statistics showing the highest number since before the recession hit Lithuania back in 2008.

"Already this year, our hotel occupancy rates have increased significantly compared to the last year – 6% in January, and 10% increases in February," said Egle Dilkiene of the Lithuanian Association of Hotels and Restaurants.

"Having Ryanair fly here has helped our tourism immensely, and our hotel and restaurant partners tell us that the number of visitors arriving keeps on growing."

The newly arrived tourists have chosen a very good year to visit Kaunas too. 2011 sees a record number of large events taking place in the city, including the International Hanseatic Days festival which took place in May. Held from the 19th to the 22nd, it saw delegation from more than 86 cities – all former members of the Hanseatic Leagues of Europe.

The four day event was a medieval spectacular, involving more than 100 events, mock battles, concerts, competitions and shows taking place all over the city, all enjoyed by thousands of locals and tourists.

"We hope to stage more events of this kind," said Mikaitis. "We want more foreign visitors to come here and enjoy our city, and we are actively planning more events and building new infrastructure to prepare for our new guests."

The next big event on the agenda in Kaunas is the Eurobasket 2011 tournament, the final stages of the European basketball championships. The tournament, which will see the finest European national teams battle it out for the title of European champions, will be played at the Zalgiris Arena – a brand new facility which builders are racing to complete in time.

The event takes place in September and is expected to be a sell out – more than 80% of match tickets for the scheduled games in the 17,000 capacity arena have been sold already.

Officials are eagerly anticipating an even bigger boost to tourism in the city during the finals. "We estimate each visitor will spend approximately 150 Euros a day while they are here, for hotel rooms, food, drinks and entertainment," said Eurobasket organizer Rytis Sabas.

However much money they make, there can be no doubt about it – Kaunas is a city on the up.