The so-called 'Baltic Bubble' travel zone, drawn up after the travel restrictions to Latvia's neighbours Estonia and Lithuania were lifted, produced a rapid inflow of tourists to Latvia from Estonia in June, but not from Lithuania, according to statistics from Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) released on August 14.

The number of visitors from Estonia, as compared to June of the previous year, increased by 5.6%, but the number of nights spent by them in Latvia increased even more, by 17.6%.

However, the data also show that the number of visitors from Lithuania, as compared to June of the previous year, has dropped by 3.5%, and the number of nights spent by them is down by 0.9%.

In 2Q the number of foreign and resident visitors in Latvian tourist accommodation establishments was 170,800 which is 78.1% less than in the same quarter of 2019.

As compared to the same period of the previous year, the number of nights spent by visitors has reduced by 74.7% and comprised 373,400 nights. Visitors spent an average of 2.2 nights at tourist accommodation establishments. In the first half of 2020, 570,300 visitors, of which 317,100 were foreign visitors, were hosted in Latvian tourist accommodation establishments.

After the emergency situation declared in the country on March 12, the number of visitors recorded its largest decline in Latvia in April (a drop of 93.6%). On June 10 the emergency situation ended and a large part of tourist accommodation establishments resumed limited activity. As compared to May, the number of visitors in June increased four times, reaching 127,600 visitors.