Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 13.1.
Estonia: international visitors by citizenship, 1926-1939.
Country of
residence
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1939
Latvia
52,738
8,211
74,809
66,277
61,761
127,056
53,643
Finland
4,528
7,834
13,899
5,587
6,559
12,221
13,286
Germany
3,523
4,299
5,686
3,852
5,072
5,566
5,008
Sweden
861
1,261
1,361
1,024
1,903
5,432
7,074
Russia
2,172
2,373
1,247
1,091
1,074
1,032
778
UK
875
1,774
2,799
3,068
1,070
1,414
1,108
USA
596
885
1,102
772
514
801
712
Lithuania
877
693
688
563
539
927
1,409
Other
countries
3,689
4,146
5,157
3,382
3,862
5,661
5,310
Total
69,859
105,375
106,748
85,616
82,354
160,111
88,328
Source:
Kallas, 2002.
majority of tourism infrastructure lay in a
state of decay. Inbound tourism in the newly
independent Estonia of the 1920s focused on
rebuilding the industry. This led to a reorienta-
tion that saw the country being marketed to
her near neighbours, the Finns, Swedes and
Latvians, many of whom were attracted to her
coastal resorts (Unwin, 1996). Table 13.1 shows
that by 1936 over 160,000 international visitors
were travelling to Estonia, an increase from
1926 of 129% (with a heavy reliance on Latvia
and Finland); but by the end of the 1930s,
World War II led to the destruction of much of
the tourism infrastructure and saw the country
occupied by both the Nazis and the Soviets.
operating up to twice per week between Tallinn
and Helsinki. In its first year of operation
some 10,000 foreigners came to Estonia on a
quota system related to available bed spaces,
through the Soviet travel agent
Intourist
and
selected travel agents in Finland (Kallas, 2002).
'Capitalist' tourists were only permitted to stay
in approved accommodation for international
guests and were expected to purchase a pre-
packaged tour of Tallinn where they would be
shown the Old Town (Fig. 13.2) as well as the
'new and improved' 1960s housing projects,
such as the suburb of Mustamae (a 1960s
high-density, high-rise 'village').
The opening of the 829-bed Hotel Viru in
1972 altered the landscape of international
tourism and by the end of the 1970s it alone
was accommodating between 40,000 and
50,000 visitors (Jaakson, 1996). Estonia still
remained a mainly closed country with the
majority of visitors only permitted to go to
Tallinn and even the historic university town of
Tartu was off limits due to the proximity of a
military airport (Unwin, 1996). The Moscow
Olympics came to Tallinn in 1980 in the form of
the yachting regatta. This further stimulated
Soviet hotel construction, which led to the Hotel
Olympia and the Pirita Sport Hotel. The free-
doms gained under Gorbachev and Perestroika
in the late-1980s stimulated a boom in tourism
as restrictions were eased. This importantly
encouraged an 'independent' tourism industry
to emerge to fill the gaps left by Intourist,
The Soviet Tourism Era in Estonia
The structure of leisure tourism that existed
pre-World War II in Estonia was regarded as a
'non productive' industry by the Soviet occupiers
and its major benefit was redefined either as a
propaganda tool or as a means to recuperate
the workforce (Hall, 1991). After the death of
Stalin in 1953 international travel to the USSR
became easier, but the tourism industry in
Estonia had become primarily associated with
internal or inter-republic domestic travel. Inter-
national tourism to Soviet Estonia increased
substantially when the sea link to Finland was
re-established in July 1965, with the ferry
Vanemuine
(named after an Estonian folk hero)
