On Wednesday, the best restaurants in Latvia included in the Michelin guide for 2026 will be announced, as well as those that will receive Michelin stars, writes Diena.
Currently, the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA) is working on assessing data regarding the impact of the Michelin guide on the food service and tourism industries. A decision on further cooperation will be made after this assessment. Earlier, LIAA representative Inese Shirava stated that LIAA definitely wants to continue cooperation with Michelin.
This year, Michelin expanded its recognition to the hotel sector for the first time in the Baltic countries, including Latvia, by including a number of hotels in the guide. The "Michelin Keys" project is relatively new. It was launched as a pilot project in 2024 in 15 countries, and the first results were summarized this year.
Therefore, it is still early to objectively assess its real impact, but LIAA expects that the first comparable data will appear in 2026. However, it can be predicted that the new guide will be able to attract clients from higher segments with greater purchasing power, similar to what is happening with restaurants. Additionally, the interaction between the two guides - restaurant and hotel - could become an additional advantage for tourist destinations.
Currently, there is no fee for the Michelin hotel guide. It is possible that in the future, Michelin will introduce a certain co-financing or cooperation model for the hotel guide as well, but for now, the project is being implemented without direct state investments.
In 2023, LIAA signed an agreement with Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin to participate in the international gastronomic guide Michelin. The agreement amount is 1.27 million euros, and its validity extends until October 31 of this year. Furthermore, the year before, the agency signed another contract for analyzing the gastronomic potential of Latvia (for 150,000 euros), under which Michelin studied more than 30 restaurants in Latvia.
