European breaks expand to Baltics

Baltic city breaks by Brian Richards

Baltic city breaks by Brian Richards

European breaks expand to Baltics

Operators pin hopes on region’s short-break potential

TOUR operators now recognise the Baltic states capitals of Tallinn and Riga as cities with considerable short-break potential and will continue to feature them strongly next year.

Their introduction by short-break specialists in the mid 1990s was seen as a bold experiment and there had been a question mark over their retention.

But both Tallinn, the Estonian capital, and the Latvian capital Riga have established strong positions in the market this year by turning in their best performances to date. After tailor-making twin centres between the two cities this summer, Travelscene will pair Tallinn and Riga with Stockholm and Helsinki for next year.

Ideal twin centres

Commercial manager Paul Stanley said: “Twinning capitals in this way creates unusual but attractive city-break pairings – Helsinki and Tallinn are only a ferry ride apart. Tallinn and Riga have both done well this year. Our brochure spread on Scandinavian multi-centres will include Baltic combinations for next year.”

Sovereign introduced both cities two years ago. Anna Prentice, business manager for specialist products, said: “They’ve since grown in popularity. Tallinn is the more popular of the Baltic capitals but we’re doing twin-centre holidays between the two as they are close.”

Cresta offers Tallinn and Cities brand manager Ian Ackland said that with greater promotion, the city could attract more short-break business.

“Walking round Tallinn is a fantastic experience and it has the potential to do well – look at how Copenhagen, Reykjavik and Stockholm have done. It’s not an obvious choice for a city break but it appeals to those who are adventurous.”

Marketing opportunities

With the city-break operators having opted for Tallinn and Riga, it has been left to regional specialists including Intourist, Mastertours and Norvista to include Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.

Mastertours plans to repeat its tour to the three Baltic capitals next year following encouraging sales in the operator’s launch year.

Product manager Jeremy Anderson said: “It is one of our strongest sellers, probably because there aren’t many Baltic combinations on the market.”

Intourist managing director Des McGuinness would like the three Baltic states to market themselves as one entity, rather than compete. “They have more potential promoted together,” he said.

Norvista marketing manager Graham Small said his personal choice of a Baltic twin centre would be Tallinn and Vilnius.

“Though there’s less awareness of Vilnius, in some ways it’s the most interesting of the Baltic cities with its strong religious element, while Tallinn has the most advanced infrastructure.”

Wider hotel range

Two properties, the four-star Palace and three-star St Barbara, are widely featured in Tallinn; in Riga the five-star Radisson SAS Daugava gets most exposure. The Hotel Latvia in Riga is to reopen as a four-star hotel next May. New openings in the Latvian capital this year are the five-star Grand Palace and four-star Park Maritim.