The President of the Latvian Rural Tourism Association, Asnāte Ziemele, told Latvian Radio that after two years spent in Covid-19, when, due to restrictions, rural tourism entrepreneurs also received state aid, the year started hopefully. However, the war in Ukraine will affect the number of foreign tourists in Latvia.
"230 farms have applied to participate in the 'open' days, and then those who produce something, their own products – yogurts and cheeses, meat preparations, [..] provide catering. There are also a lot of simple accommodation facilities, such as campsites, different types of glampings have popped up like mushrooms after rain."
"Many animal petting zoos with chickens and rabbits, children especially like it a lot [..]. I have to say that we have a much more generous supply in Latvia than in Lithuania and Estonia, and that is what we are happy and proud about," said Ziemele.
Ziemele said that there is currently high interest in organizing events out in the country – corporate sports games, weddings, and family events. Foreigner numbers have reduced.
"The process of canceling bookings is over [..] But it's very difficult, of course, for Asian tourists, Japanese tourists now have to spend 14 hours on the way instead of seven and the price of tickets is quite different from what it used to be. We are expecting Americans, and the Japanese who have crafts very close to their hearts, and we hope to see these tourists in the other half of the year, starting in August.
"Of course, everything depends on how the world goes, but we're not pessimistic, absolutely not. The owners plan to [..] very carefully raise prices, and a huge leap is not expected, it is 10% or 15% on top of the base price," said Ziemele.
If you want to visit local producers and farmers, have a look at the participant map provided by the rural traveller organization.
