Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
border-crossing procedures and increased
transport access to Estonia by road, air and sea.
The Enterprise Estonia/Estonian Tourist Board
also believe that faster border-crossing pro-
cedures and simplified requirements for car
insurance after EU enlargement contributed to
an increasing number of Finnish, Latvian,
Lithuanian and Polish car travellers, as well as
continuing growth in the number of German
tourists travelling via Baltic countries by car,
coach or caravan (Enterprise Estonia/Estonian
Tourist Board, 2005).
On the Stockholm-Tallinn sea route, new
ships entered service. One ferry with the capacity
to carry 2500 passengers added a stopover
on the Åland Islands so as to maintain duty-free
sales, whilst another offered cruises from
Stockholm to Tallinn three times a week targeted
at Swedes (Fig. 13.5). Another route also
opened up between Tallinn and St Petersburg
and a high-speed catamaran entered service on
the Tallinn-Helsinki route.
The fifth freedom 'open skies' policy of
the EU and the competitive threats posed by
budget airlines influenced Estonian Air to alter
its structure prior to EU membership to shore up
its competitive position. This is a strategy that
has been followed by other incumbent airlines
in response to the arrival of low-cost carriers
(Pender and Baum, 2000). This restructure
involved the national carrier introducing sub-
stantially lower one-way airfares that were
available to be purchased over the internet
starting from October 2003 (Enterprise Estonia/
Estonian Tourist Board, 2005). Additionally,
Estonian Air launched new routes to Amsterdam,
Berlin, Oslo, Munich, Brussels and Dublin and
increased
frequency
to
Copenhagen,
London
and Hamburg.
Once EU membership was attained, the
Italian budget carrier, Volare (May 2004), and
easyJet (November 2004) started flying bet-
ween Tallinn and the UK, Germany and Italy
(Fig. 13.6). The arrival of easyJet on the London-
Tallinn route stimulated a 185% increase in the
number of British visitors in November and
December 2004 (Enterprise Estonia/Estonian
Tourist Board, 2005). During the first 4 months of
these flights to Tallinn, 10,000 additional British
tourists stayed at accommodation establishments
in Estonia compared to the same months in the
previous year (Enterprise Estonia/ Estonian Tour-
ist Board, 2005). This correlates with the findings
of Pender and Baum (2000) that low-cost carriers
can create new markets. However, there is some
Fig. 13.5. Brochure from the Nordic Company
Silja Line promoting the commencement of a
thrice weekly 'day trip' cruise to Tallinn from
Stockholm (October, 2004). The caption reads
'Now in Autumn you can travel with the West
Indian cruise ship Silja Operato Tallinn'.
Fig. 13.6. A poster in central Tallinn advertising
the launch of budget airline easyJet's London and
Berlin services.
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