Estonia attracts record-breaking number of Brits
Estonia continued its spectacular in incoming tourism in the first quarter of 2011, with an overall increase of 16.5% visitors from around the world, including 41% more British guests compared with the same period in 2010.
Over 259,000 inbound tourists stayed in accommodation establishments in Estonia between 1st January and 31st March 2010, 19% more than in 2010, with 9,500 British guests spending 23,292 nights in Estonia during the three month period.
Three new RyanAir flights, from East Midlands, Luton and Edinburgh, and a new route from Liverpool to Tallinn with easyJet contributed to the growth from the UK, while overall inbound visitor numbers are being influenced in 2011 by Estonia’s capital Tallinn, hosting a year as a European Capital of Culture.
The UK is now the fifth largest inbound market for Estonia, jumping up two places from seventh compared with 2009.
Estonia’s Director of Tourism, Tarmo Mutso, said “Tallinn is one of two European Capitals of Culture in 2011 and this is attracting a lot of interest in the city. We’re benefitting from this, from new flying routes and from a strong tourism infrastructure with good quality hotels and good value prices. Several new tourist attractions have been or will be opened this year in Tallinn, including the Viru Hotel KGB museum, the renovated Estonian History Museum and the Estonian Maritime Museum at the reconstructed Seaplane Harbour on Tallinn’s seafront. These factors all cumulatively provide excellent conditions for the sustained growth in inbound tourism which we expect to continue”
For information about Estonia go to: visitestonia.com