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| Tallinn City Tourist Office & Convention Bureau | DECEMBER 2007 |
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| Vabaduse väljak 7, 15199 Tallinn, Estonia • www.tourism.tallinn.ee | |
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Tallinn Card renewed Viewing platform and restaurant in the TV Tower are closed Tallinn Tourism Deed of the Year 2007 Town Hall Square under renovation Tourist routes made for people with disabilities Cruise Baltic voted 'Destination of the Year' News briefs |
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Tallinn Card renewedWith the new year, the Tallinn Card product package will be renewed. The new package will be valid for the entire calendar year, from January 1 to December 31, 2008. The Tallinn Card prices will stay the same, and the number of partners offering free entrances, price discounts and bonuses will also stay the same (nearly 100), as four new partners have joined and four partners have finished cooperation. A new service being offered is the Old Town walking tour on the iPod. In addition to introducing the Old Town, the iPod also entertains visitors with tales of the colourful history of Estonia and local traditions, as well as ghost stories, legends and jokes. All 52 stories are available in English, Russian, French and Estonian. For iPod rental, presentation of a credit card and ID is required, and a rental contract must be signed. The usual cost of a 24-hour rental is 300 EEK, but with the Tallinn Card it is free. An interactive museum has also been added to the list of partners, to be opened in Epping Tower on May 2, 2008. The exhibition on the six floors of the tower describes the development of Tallinn’s fortress and displays medieval weaponry and armor and some handicraft from the period. Visitors may try on chain mail and handle models of weapons. The 15th-century Epping Tower is located at Laboratooriumi 31. Tickets cost 50 EEK; free entry with the Tallinn Card. Also new to the Tallinn Card’s list of partners are Egoist restaurant and the nu nordik design shop. Egoist is one of the most highly esteemed, luxury gourmet restaurants in Tallinn. Tallinn Card holders receive a free dessert with the order of an à la carte meal. Nu nordik is a small shop brimming with new creations from young Estonian designers, from reflectors and jewelry to furniture. The Tallinn Card gives a 15% discount regardless of the price of purchase. The Eduard Vilde Museum, Tallinn TV Tower, Premia Icehall and the Doll Shop will no longer be partners in the new package. All changes to the package, to the smallest detail, will be listed on the Tallinn Card website from the first week of the new year as well as in the catalogue which comes with the Tallinn Card. Discounts are available for companies interested in selling the Tallinn Card, depending on the size of order and form of payment. In case of interest, please contact the product manager. For additional information: Viewing platform and restaurant in the TV Tower are closedThe viewing platform and Galaxy restaurant were closed to visitors from November 26. The reason for closure is that the emergency exits did not meet current safety regulations. The viewing platform on the 21st floor and the restaurant were closed due to an injunction from the Northern Estonia Rescue Service. The Rescue Service deemed the current emergency exit to be insufficient for the rapid evacuation of people in the event of fire. The injunction does not apply to the basic functions of the TV Tower – broadcasting television and radio signals. The owner and administrator of the tower, AS Levira, will continue operations on the lower floors, and maintenance and upkeep of the antennas on the upper part of the tower are not hindered. The conference rooms on the second floor will also remain in use. The TV Tower has two elevators and a staircase 66 cm wide, which met the fire safety requirements when the tower was built in the late 1970s. Today, regulations require buildings as tall as the TV Tower to have two emergency exits. The additional stairway must be at least 120 cm wide, but the TV Tower does not have enough room even to widen the existing stairs. The elevators, elevator shafts, the entire 20th to 22nd floors and the current emergency exits will all have to be rebuilt to meet safety regulations. In order to solve this extremely complicated technical problem, the building administrator has consulted with state and city institutions. According to initial estimates, it would take at least a few years to rebuild the tower, from deciding on a satisfactory plan until completion, and it would cost 80 million kroons. In any case, the TV Tower will not be reopened until all safety regulations are met. The TV Tower was built in 1980, before the Moscow Olympics sailing regatta, designed by architect David Basiladze. The tower is 314 meters tall: the 190-meter tower body, made of reinforced concrete, topped by a 124-meter steel mast. The viewing platform and restaurant are 170 meters high. Considering the building norms of the time, the tower has remained in fairly good order, and no accidents have occurred there. The TV Tower’s viewing platform has been a very popular sight among tourists, receiving 40-50 thousand visits per year. Among Tallinn Card users, the TV Tower was in second place after the Tallinn City Tour hop-on hop-off bus tour, with 3707 visits from January through October 2007. City Tour will keep its TV Tower stop on the green line. Additional information: Tallinn Tourism Deed of the Year 2007A new prize was given out this year at Tallinn Entrepreneurship Day – Tallinn Tourism Deed of the Year. The condition for nominating a project for this prize was that it should bring added value to Tallinn as a destination for cultural tourism through diverse events or other endeavors. The first project judged worthy of the new prize was the Birgitta Festival, organised by the Tallinn Philharmonic Society, as a wonderful event of high artistic value whose popularity has grown each year among both Estonians and foreign visitors. The four other nominees were: Year of Design, which was led by the Estonian Academy of Arts Design Innovation Center from August 2006 through September of this year; the jazz festivals organised by Jazzkaar Festivals for the 18 year in a row; Kadriorg Park, which is being actively renovated and whose popularity is growing among residents and tourists alike; and the Eesti Käsitöö shops selling authentic Estonian handicrafts and souvenirs, founded by the Estonian Folk Art and Craft Union, along with their Medieval Market and St. Martin’s Day Fair. For additional information: Town Hall Square under renovationIn the spring of 2008, renovation work will begin on one of the major tourist sights of Tallinn – the Town Hall Square. The whole square will be dug up, bit by bit in small sections. The entire cobblestone square will be raised to the same level as the sidewalks lining it, and the houses around the square will be lit up by decorative lights. The renovation process is planned to be completed in two years. The Town Hall Square has been the heart of the city for centuries, and it still carries this role today. It is bordered by many restaurants whose large outdoor terraces spill out onto the square in the summer. Events on the square always attract large numbers of visitors. Traditional events, such as Tallinn Day on May 15th and the Old Town Days in the beginning of June, will take place as usual during renovations. For more information: Tourist routes made for people with disabilitiesAn evaluation and plan for creating new tourist routes catering to the special needs of people with disabilities have been commissioned by the Tallinn City Enterprise Board from the Estonian Union of Persons with Mobility Impairment. Three new tourist routes in Tallinn were added to the national freedom of mobility website www.liikumisvabadus.invainfo.ee: Toompea, the lower Old Town and Kadriorg. The evaluation and plan will form the basis for an action plan for easing access to the city’s tourist sights for people with mobility impairment. The largest single job being carried out with this aim is the renovation of the Town Hall Square next spring, which will raise the square to the same level as the current sidewalks. Smaller items on the action plan should be completed by the beginning of the 2008 tourist season. For additional information: Cruise Baltic voted 'Destination of the Year'At this year’s Seatrade Europe in Hamburg, Cruise Baltic was selected as Destination of the Year 2007 by Seatrade Insider. Cruise Baltic, a network of 25 destinations in the Baltic Sea region, has successfully branded itself as one destination since 2004, targeting the international cruise market. The prize is awarded to a destination "which has made significant improvements to its facilities/cruise-tourism infrastructure over the past 12 months". Cruise Baltic was one of the three finalists nominated for the award along with Dubai Tourism and Kent Cruise Connection Partnership. The panel of judges selected Cruise Baltic because of its unique cooperation, which in a very short time has developed into a successful project. Cruise Baltic is a three-year EU project that is now continuing until 2010. It started in 2004 in order to increase the number of cruise ship passengers to the Baltic region; raise the proportion of cruise ships in the Baltic Sea’s share of the global cruise ship market; and increase the number of passengers that return after their first visit to the region. In 2006, the 19 harbour members of the Cruise Baltic Project registered 2.3 million port visits. The total number of dockings at the 19 harbours this season was 2,079. For more information: News briefsJust before Christmas, Estonia will join the Schengen Visa area. The Schengen Visa conditions will take effect at the Estonian overland borders and seaports as of December 21, and Estonian airports from March 30, 2008, when airlines switch over to their summer schedules. The eastern border of Estonia, which is also the external border of the European Union and the Schengen area, will maintain strict border crossing procedures. The other new members joining the Schengen area along with Estonia are Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia. For information on traveling in the Schengen area: www.vm.ee * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Many hotels in Tallinn are offering discount prices in December and January. For information on special hotel packages on offer during the holiday season, cultural events and other ways to spend your free time in Tallinn, see the Tallinn tourism website in English, Swedish and Norwegian. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * February 24, 2008 will mark 90 years since the declaration of the independent Republic of Estonia. Events celebrating the state’s anniversary began on November 28, and will last until November 28 of the coming year. Read about the events planned for the anniversary year on the website dedicated to the 90th anniversary at www.eesti90.ee. It is interesting to note that this celebratory year is framed by the anniversaries of Estonia’s neighbours to the north and south: the Republic of Finland celebrated its 90th anniversary on December 6, 2007, and the Republic of Latvia celebrates its 90th on November 18, 2008. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * On the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a virtual Estonian embassy was founded in the Internet-based virtual world Second Life. The virtual embassy, opened on December 4, welcomes anyone interested in Estonia. The embassy has a reception room, conference room, art gallery and technology room, and various events are planned, including exhibitions, concerts and lectures. The first exhibit, Blue-Black-and-White in Estonian Art, is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. Other materials related to the anniversary are also on show. For more information and pictures of the virtual embassy, see: www.vm.ee * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Tallinn tourism website now has a list of cultural events in 2008, available in all the languages of the site – English, German, Russian, Swedish and Finnish. Selected events are described in more detail on the opening page (also in all languages). The database available on the English page allows users to search for events taking place in the city by event type and date. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The new Tallinn Product Manual, a handbook for tourism professionals renewed every autumn, came out at the end of October. Annual updating has also begun on the main tourist publication, the city break brochures. The first brochure has been published in English, to be followed by Finnish and German versions this year; in February and March, 2008, Russian, Swedish and French brochures will become available. All current marketing materials can be seen at the TCTO&CB webpages for travel trade professionals. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * At the Chef of the Year competition in early November, Oleg Sõtsov of the Savoy Boutique Hotel’s restaurant, L’Arancia, was named this year’s best chef in Estonia. Second place was awarded to Lasse Luks, of Aed restaurant, and third place went to Aleksandr Shitikov, from the Kadriorg restaurant. The competition, in its 13th year, has been organised since 1995 by the Estonian Chefs’ Association for the advancement and promotion of Estonian cuisine and restaurant culture. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Senso, in the Reval Hotel Olümpia, began a wine dinner series in September. The restaurant’s sommelier presents a wine at the dinner, and the head chef prepares a gourmet, four-course dinner especially designed to best bring out the wine’s flavor. This dinner series, with menus taking inspiration from the wine, is the first of its kind in Estonia. Wine dinners take place once a month in Senso’s banquet hall, and tickets cost 650 EEK. For additional information contact: Kairi Lipstok, Reval Hotel Olümpia marketing director. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The open-air ice rink was reopened in the Old Town next to St. Nicholas’ Church in the middle of November. The artificial ice rink will be open every day from 10:00 to 22:00 until the end of March, even if the air temperature is as warm as 10-15ºC. For tickets, skate rental prices and other additional information: www.uisuplats.ee * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Estonian Tourist Board will open a new tourism website on Estonia in 2008. Instead of developing the existing site www.visitestonia.com any further, a new one will be created from scratch. The URL address will remain the same, as will its target groups, including both tourists and tourism professionals. The webpages intended for the latter will have restricted access and contain more information than before. The new website will be launched in time for the tourist season, initially in English, German, Russian, Finnish and Estonian, with other languages to follow in the future. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * On November 16, the Education, Youth and Culture Council of the European Union confirmed Turku (Finland) and Tallinn as culture capitals of Europe for the year 2011. Mikko Fritze, former head of Tallinn’s Goethe Institute, will assume the post of director of Tallinn 2011, the foundation in charge of preparing Tallinn for the role of culture capital, in February 2008. It is too early to speak even in general terms of the programme for Tallinn’s culture capital year, but some noteworthy larger plans include the long-awaited addition to the City Theatre and the development of the Culture Cauldron (Kultuurikatel) and beach promenade in the harbour area. |