Riga says it's just not the same without you

The Latvian capital, Riga, launched a new campaign June 8 designed to stimulate the tourism sector which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis. Under the slogan "“Riga bez tevis nav Riga” or "Riga isn't Riga without you," the Riga Tourism Development Bureau (RTAB) and its partners are hoping to encourage locals as well as visitors from abroad to make use of the city's many opportunities for tourism, but a particular effort will be made to woo tourists from neighboring Estonia and Lithuania.

The campaign will carry the message that it is safe to visit Riga, because the city fully meets the new travel requirements, RTAB board member Eva Juhņēviča told Latvian Radio. Indeed Latvia's so-far exemplary handling of the COVID-19 crisis even gives it an added attraction that it did not possess a few months ago. In the COVID-19 era, Riga can claim to be one "one of the safest places you can be," and consequently can be considered an ideal place to safely and responsibly enjoy cultural events in their new formats this summer Juhņēviča said. "During this time, each of us has realized that Riga is its people, ourselves," she added. In an earlier interview with LTV, Juhņēviča expressed the hope that Riga mights manage to attract least 80% of the number of tourists visiting from Lithuania and Estonia last year. A first-ever tourism hackathon to create new, innovative tourism products will also take place, and marketing campaigns are being revised to suit the new realities of the pandemic.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, tourists from Lithuania and Estonia accounted for about 13% of the total number of tourists in the capital in the summer. In 2019, in the period from June to August, almost 30,000 guests from Lithuania and 33,000 from Estonia visited Riga.