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| Tallinn City Tourist Office & Convention Bureau | APRIL 2007 |
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| Vabaduse väljak 7, 15199 Tallinn, Estonia • www.tourism.tallinn.ee | |
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Tallinn tourism in 2006 Activities of TCTO&CB in 2006 Good results from the winter marketing campaign in Russia Tallinn Card popular among Russian tourists during New Year Tallinn merits recognition by cruise magazine Marketing campaign in Finland complete Taxi client agenda well accepted New catalogues for conference tourism have been published Tallinn Tourist Information Centre visits continue to grow Tourist brochures renewed Tourism organisations merged Responsible Tourism program to be launched |
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Tallinn tourism in 2006In 2006, travel services exports (i.e. all expenses related to foreign visitors in Tallinn, including accommodation, catering, entertainment, shopping, etc.) amounted to 10.1 billion kroons. This has grown 7.5% (0.7 billion kroons) compared to last year. Overnight stays in accommodation facilities in Tallinn made a new record in 2006, reaching 2.13 million nights (+10%, or +189,000 nights). Foreign tourists spent a total of 1.83 million nights (+3%, +58,000 nights) and Estonian residents spent 301,000 nights (+77%, +131,000) in accommodation facilities. In 2006, 1 million foreign tourists were accommodated in facilities in Tallinn, which is -3% or 28,000 people less than in 2005. A total of 168,000 (+65%, +66,000) Estonian residents were accommodated in Tallinn’s facilities. Finnish people accounted for half of all foreign tourists accommodated in Tallinn. The number of Finns, however, is declining. In 2006, a 21% decline followed the remarkable growth in Germans accommodated in 2005 (+35%). Among priority markets for Tallinn in 2006, the most growth was seen in Russian, Norwegian and Latvian tourists. The summer months remain Tallinn’s tourism high season, but in recent years the gap between high and low seasons has declined. January and December of 2006 saw the largest growth in numbers of nights. This was mainly due to Russian holiday travellers. Nights spent during holiday trips grew faster than the number of business travellers; vacationers made up 71% of all foreign tourists in Tallinn in 2006. An impressive total of 299 cruise ships with 311,000 passengers visited Tallinn in 2006. The number of passengers grew 6% in one year. Further information: Activities of TCTO&CB in 2006Summary of the activities of the Tallinn City Tourist Office & Convention Bureau in 2006:
For information on the goals and tasks of TCTO&CB: Good results from the winter marketing campaign in RussiaThis year’s campaign inviting Russian tourists to spend their winter and New Year’s holidays in Tallinn was more successful than ever. During the campaign period (December 2006 – January 2007), 17,458 Russian tourists were accommodated in facilities in Tallinn for a total of 48,412 nights. Compared to the same period last year, the number of Russian tourists accommodated grew by 33% (+4,305) and the number of nights grew by 37% (+12,962). This is the best result so far, out of four similar campaigns. A survey was carried out during the campaign, which gathered responses from 3,800 people. The survey investigated travel preferences, among other things. Over half of the respondents would like to go on a tour of Tallinn and Estonia. Other popular preferences were spending New Year’s and winter holidays in Tallinn. Nearly a third of all respondents wishes to connect a trip to Tallinn with a visit to Helsinki. Over a quarter would come for a relaxation holiday and just as many would come on a family trip. Although Russian tourists prefer to visit Tallinn in December and January, and their increase in numbers is the largest during New Year, their numbers grew fairly remarkably during the summer months as well. During last year, 49,570 Russian tourists (+23% or +28,294 compared to 2005) stayed overnight in Tallinn’s accommodation facilities, spending a total of 119,864 nights (+30%, +27,411 nights). Of all foreign visitors, tourists from Russia were in fifth place after Finland, Sweden, Great Britain and Germany, in terms of both the number of people accommodated and the number of nights spent here. Further information: Tallinn Card popular among Russian tourists during New YearThe numerous visits by Russian tourists during the 2006/2007 New Year’s holiday had a positive influence on the sale of the Tallinn Card and the number of visits to partners. December and January is usually the low season for the Tallinn Card, but over the last New Year’s period, sales of the product grew by 22% in December and by 53% in January, compared to previous years. Substantial growth was also seen in the number of visits. For example, between January 1 and 6, Tallinn Cards were registered 1,570 times in museums, excursions, and entertainment places, which is 103 more than at the beginning of the high season on the same dates in June 2006. Compared to the usual Western summer tourists, tourists arriving here for New Year from Russia used the Tallinn Card much more rationally. While one 72-hour card is registered on average in 5 places (data from 2005), card users were more active than ever at the beginning of January. For example, one of the most eager users managed to visit 27 places in 72 hours, probably accompanied by free rides on public transport and Tallinn Card deductions offered at restaurants and shops (no specific statistics is gathered for these usages of the cards). Further information: Tallinn merits recognition by cruise magazineEach spring, the American cruise magazine Dream World Cruise Destinations (DWCD) honors the best tourism destinations, ports and service providers. This year, Tallinn was once again among the award winners. The representatives of cruise companies select nominees based on feedback from their clients. Traditionally, the winners are announced at the Seatrade Miami fair in March. For the 2006 season, Tallinn was awarded in two categories: DWCD has also recognised Tallinn in previous years. Several years in a row, Tallinn was recognised as the Most improved destination, in other words recognised for developing and improving its infrastructure. The work of Estonian tour guides has now been recognised for the second year in a row. Until February 2007, the DWCD magazine was issued by Euromoney; the new publisher is Ashcroft & Associates. Members of staff and the content of the magazine remain unchanged. Further information: Marketing campaign in Finland completeA marketing campaign about Tallinn lasting a month in Finland is now over. Real results of the campaign will become apparent no sooner than in the middle of the year. The active period of the campaign was from February 19 to March 18. The structure of the campaign was similar to a previous campaign run in the 3rd and 4th weeks of January 2006. As many as 5,115 people filled in the questionnaire on the campaign webpage. In 2006, the number of responses was 8,044. This gap is surely a result of greater advertising expenditures during the previous campaign due to Phare support, including inserts in four newspapers and web banners in nine web portals. Compared to the previous two years, the age division, place of residence and number of previous visits to Tallinn have remained practically the same among respondents. 59% of respondents are over 35 (2006, 60%); half, or 54%, are from Helsinki or surrounding areas (2006, 52%); 89% have visited Tallinn before (2006, 88%); of those, the largest group had visited Tallinn between 4 and 10 times – 35% (2006, 34%). The only significant difference in the response was the percentage of women: in 2006 there were 68%, now slightly more at 74%. Ten prizes, donated by good partners of TCTO&CB, were raffled among the people who filled in the questionnaires. The first prizewinners will soon be on their way to Tallinn. As the purpose of this recent campaign was to prolong the overall duration of Finnish tourists’ stays in Tallinn, not focused on any particular period, then it is rather too soon to talk about results of the campaign. Definite results may be revealed in the middle of the year or even later. Further information: Taxi client agenda well acceptedThirty-six establishments were interested in Tallinn’s taxi client agenda, which was published at the beginning of March. Most of the 10,000 flyers were distributed among Tallinn’s accommodation facilities, who considered it important to inform their clients about the finer details of taxi services. Also, Tallinn Airport and the Port of Tallinn deemed it important to supply tourists with the flyer. The flyer is in English, Russian, Finnish and Estonian. Its instructions ought to help tourists avoid possible inconvenience and fraud. If there is enough interest, additional copies may be printed. In case of complaints or suggestions related to taxi services, contact: New catalogues for conference tourism have been publishedThe completely updated Tallinn Incentive and Tallinn Conference Directory catalogues were published in the middle of April. The new catalogues have slightly more material than previous versions. As a result of increasing demand, the print run for both catalogues is now 6,000 (earlier 4,000). The catalogues were printed for the IMEX fair held in Frankfurt on April 17–19. The main concept of Tallinn Incentive has changed. Product categories have been renamed and completely new topics – Winter Fun, Being Different, and Glamour – have been added. The assortment of products has also grown: 66 products were introduced in the previous catalogue, whereas the new one has 88 products. The number of businesses who present their services in the Tallinn Conference Directory grew by 8, the new catalogue introduces 96 institutions related to conference tourism altogether. The catalogues are mainly targeted at convention professionals operating abroad; their main distribution channels are international conference and holiday tourism fairs. The catalogues can be seen on the Tallinn tourism webpage. Further information: Tallinn Tourist Information Centre visits continue to growIn the last four years (2002–2006), Tallinn Tourist Information Centre visits have grown by 77,019 visitors, or 105%. The number of Estonian residents visiting the centre has remained between 6 and 9%. In 2006, 150,177 people visited the Tourist Information Centre, of which 132,277, or 91%, were foreign tourists and 12,950 or 9% were residents of Estonia. As with the total number of people visiting Tallinn, the number of visitors to the information centre is highest in July and lowest in January. In January 2006, 2,796 people visited the information centre, compared to almost 12 times more in July – 33,681 people. The information centre had the most visits from Finnish, British, German, Swedish and American tourists in 2006. Compared to 2002, the percentage of Italians, Russians, French, Estonians and Americans grew the most. In 2006, Tourist Information Centre employees answered 176,449 inquiries, which is 116,936 inquiries or 196% more than in 2002. The most popular subjects were still commerce, transport, excursions, accommodation, services and sights. Compared to previous years, inquiries about transport, services and accommodation have become more frequent. The new Tourist Information Centre which opened in Viru Keskus in January magnifies the growth in the number of visits. For example, in February 2006, 3,599 people visited the information centre in the Old Town. In February this year, however, 6,332 people in total visited both information centres (3,138 people in the Old Town and 3,194 in the Viru Keskus) The new information centre location has, of course, also increased the percentage of local residents among the visitors, 17% more Estonians visited the centres in February. Further information: Tourist brochures renewedAs of March, all language versions of the main tourist brochure have been renewed. New editions of the city break brochure were published in February and March in German, Russian, Swedish and French. The design of the brochure is the same as the last version. The most important part – cultural events – has been updated. All TCTO&CB publications can be viewed on the Tallinn tourism webpage. Further information: Tourism organisations mergedAt the beginning of 2007, two renowned European tourism organisations EFCT and ECT/FECTO merged The European Federation of Conference Towns (EFCT) and European Cities Tourism / Federation of European Cities Tourist Offices (ECT/FECTO) merged to become the leading tourism organisation in Europe – European Cities Marketing (ECM). The new organisation represents 130 tourism cities from 30 countries. Tallinn was a member of the organisations before and continues to participate actively in the work of both divisions – leisure and convention – of the merged ECM. Further information: Responsible Tourism program to be launchedLocal British entrepreneurs in collaboration with the British Embassy and the Tallinn City Tourist Office & Convention Bureau are about to launch the Responsible Tourism program. The goal of the program is to make Tallinn a more pleasant and safer destination for all tourists, in order to encourage revisiting the city. Preliminary work in launching this program started last autumn on the initiative of the British Embassy. The TCTO&CB joined the program in March. The program requires the co-operation of local institutions. Above all, dining establishments and hotels are expected to join. Businesses interested in joining are expected to be able to offer good customer service and a pleasant, tourist-friendly environment. Important prerequisites include the requirement that the businesses do not accept violations of house rules from clients or staff and that the staff speak English. Joining the program and being a partner is free of charge for everyone. Partners will be marked with a Responsible Tourism Approved logo, which will be put on their door or window. The logo is a sign for tourists that the establishment cares about their opinion and considers Tallinn’s reputation important. Therefore, businesses that join the program obtain a slight competitive advantage. A list of all partners and other relevant information will also be put up on the program’s webpage, soon to be launched. Videos on the subject can be seen on the Infomedia24 homepage. The videos were made at the request of the British Embassy last autumn by those implementing the program. With the help of the embassy, tourists will also be informed of the existence of the program and its principles. The first big operational test will be in June, when the Estonia vs England football championship game will be held. At least 5,000 football fans from England are expected to arrive here for that event. Further information about the program and how to join: |