Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
growth has taken place since then, with a nota-
ble speeding up in 1999 and 2000. Main desti-
nations are Lithuania, Estonia and Russia; the
main purpose of travel is shopping, which is
explained by cheaper prices in neighbouring
countries. In 2000, 41.1% of those stating a
reason for travelling indicated shopping. With a
subsequent equalization of prices in neighbour-
ing countries, this motive has become less sig-
nificant, accounting for just 16% of the number
of travellers going abroad in 2004 (Central
Statistical Bureau of Latvia, 1998, p. 11, 2001,
pp. 18-19).
Visiting friends and relatives (29% in 2004)
has been consistently the most popular stated
reason for travelling out of the country since
independence. It can be explained by the multi-
national ethnic composition of Latvia, as well as
the development of new links and networks
with EU countries. The number of travellers
going on holiday is increasing every year. In
1996 it was only 6% of travellers, but in 2004 it
was 20%. The number of business travellers is
also increasing, rising to 19% by 2004 (Briksne,
2005b).
their travel. In that year it was found that just
over 54% of inhabitants travelled for holiday
purposes across an internal administrative
boundary. The most popular destination was
R
i
ga. Day trips without accommodation com-
prised 44% of all such recorded travel. About
23% took short holiday trips with overnights
of 1-3 days. Only 6.4% of travellers chose
domestic holiday trips of 4 days or more. Of all
domestic holiday travellers, 54% were women
and the most typical age group was 15-24
years. Private accommodation accounted for
91% of overnights, and 62.2% travelled by car
(Briksne, 2005b).
Persisting negative balance of Latvian
tourism payments
From a state economic perspective, inbound
tourism needs to be developed because of
the negative tourism balance of payments
(Table 14.3), even though since 2002 the num-
ber of inbound travellers has exceeded those
outbound.
In Latvia, balance of payments data indi-
cated the share of tourism to be 2.2% of GDP in
2003, compared to an EU average of 4.8%.
However, there is steady growth in Latvia, at
about 7%, with plans to reach 2.5% of GDP in
2007 (WTO, 2003, p. 233). Further, inbound
traveller expenditure is increasing by an aver-
age of 10% per annum, even though the aver-
age length of stay between 1997 and 2004
Development of domestic tourism
Only in 2004, implementing the EU Directive
95/57/EC of 1995 on the collection of statistical
information in the field of tourism, did the
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia begin
regular surveying of inhabitants of Latvia about
Table 14.3.
Latvia: tourism balance of payments, 1996-2004.
Income from foreign
tourists (million LVL)
Latvian tourists' expenditures
abroad (million LVL)
Tourism balance of
payments (million LVL)
Year
1996
108.7
201.8
-93.1
1997
118.4
167.2
-48.8
1998
98.2
171.1
-72.9
1999
66.0
157.1
-91.1
2000
74.4
147.9
-73.5
2001
70.8
137.0
-66.2
2002
96.0
137.4
-41.4
2003
124.4
182.5
-58.1
2004
141.9
197.5
-56.6
Sources:
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, 1999, 2004b; Briksne, 2005a.
