Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
visitor nights increased by 21% (Tables 13.5
and 13.6) (Enterprise Estonia/Estonian Tourist
Board, 2005). This growth trend was not merely
a reflection of the summer peak season as each
month of 2004 demonstrated high growth rates
in comparison to the respective month of 2003
(Enterprise Estonia/Estonian Tourist Board,
2005). Among the 1.37m overnight tourists,
200,000 stayed at health spas, an increase of
66,000. In total, this rapidly growing segment
accounted for 32% of foreign visitor overnight
stays in accommodation establishments (Enter-
prise Estonia/Estonian Tourist Board, 2005).
Reviewing the market by type of holiday,
the main growth sectors have been: (i) city
breaks to Tallinn, (ii) tours combining Estonia
and its neighbouring countries, popular with
tourists from Western and Southern Europe,
and (iii) spa holidays, popular with tourists
from Finland and Sweden. To a lesser extent,
conference tourism has also increased by 20%,
although from a smaller base. According to the
preliminary data of 2004, holiday tourists
account for 66% of foreign tourists at accommo-
dation establishments, with 5% being conference
delegates, 18% other business tourists and
12% travelling for other purposes (Enterprise
Estonia/Estonian Tourist Board, 2005).
In terms of the major source markets, the
substantial growth rates in the number of
Finnish, German, Swedish, Italian, Latvian and
British tourists mainly contributed to the overall
increase, although tourist arrivals from almost
all other markets have increased substantially as
well (Enterprise Estonia/Estonian Tourist Board,
2005). While between 2001 and 2003 tourism
flows from Finland to Estonia had been stabili-
zing, the number of Finnish tourists started to
increase again in the fourth quarter of 2003.
This was related to additional ferry capacity
being available on the Tallinn-Helsinki route
and the opening of several new hotels and spas.
Tourists staying at the hotels of Tallinn account
for almost 66% of the increase in Finns, while
Table 13.5.
Estonia: visitor arrivals, 2004 (staying in paid accommodation including health spas).
Arrival numbers
Change 2004/2003 growth
Country of residence
2003
2004
a
Nos
%
Finland
706,473
843,871
137,398
19
Sweden
66,751
89,042
22,291
33
Germany
68,151
85,643
17,492
26
Russia
37,320
42,348
5,028
13
Latvia
29,230
40,956
11,726
40
UK
30,151
38,903
8,752
29
Norway
29,842
35,798
5,956
20
Italy
13,127
25,642
12,515
95
Lithuania
14,320
20,555
6,235
44
USA
12,761
19,411
6,650
52
France
8,326
15,086
6,760
81
Denmark
14,894
13,915
-979
-7
Spain
7,921
12,177
4,256
54
The Netherlands
7,826
10,490
2,664
34
Japan
6,901
7,362
461
7
Austria
3,487
5,757
2,270
65
Switzerland
3,791
4,694
903
24
Czech Republic, Slovakia
2,624
4,997
2,373
90
Hungary
1,489
2,267
778
52
Canada
1,567
2,981
1,414
90
Foreign tourists
1,112,746
1,374,414
261,668
24
a
Estimated.
Source:
Enterprise Estonia/Estonian Tourist Board, 2005.
