The beginning of this year for the hospitality industry in Latvia was significantly weaker than the corresponding period last year, said Andris Kalniņš, president of the Latvian Association of Hotels and Restaurants (LAGR), to the LETA agency.
Referring to information provided by association members, he noted that the number of foreign guests in Latvia in the first two months of 2026 was lower than in the same period last year. A similar picture is shown by the passenger flow at Riga Airport, as statistics for January and February of this year did not demonstrate positive dynamics, while in the airports of neighboring countries, the number of passengers was increasing.
"This means that there are tourists in the region, but they are increasingly choosing other destinations instead of Riga," emphasized the head of the association.
At the same time, Kalniņš noted that January and February are always the quietest months in the hospitality industry, so cities and countries that seriously think about developing tourism purposefully attract major international events—conferences, sports competitions, or festivals—that can fill hotels even off-season. However, in Latvia and Riga, there were practically no such events at the beginning of this year.
He expressed the opinion that this is a direct result of the hospitality and inbound tourism industry in Latvia being neglected for years.
"Funding for advertising Latvia as a tourist destination has been consistently reduced, and there is virtually no strategic approach to attracting major international events. Now we are starting to see the consequences of this policy," said Kalniņš.
As previously reported, last year the number of overnight stays by guests in Latvian hotels and other tourist accommodations increased by 6.1% compared to 2024, amounting to 4.977 million. This includes the number of overnight stays by foreign guests in Latvian hotels and other tourist accommodations in 2025, which increased by 8.3% compared to 2024, reaching 3.076 million, while the number of overnight stays by local residents increased by 2.7% to 1.901 million.
LAGR unites accommodation and catering enterprises for professional cooperation. LAGR is a member of the association "Hotels, Restaurants and Cafés in Europe."
