According to data published by the Central Statistical Bureau December 16, in October 2024 the number of non-resident and resident visitors comprised 197.6 thousand, which is 12.2 % more than in October 2023.
Compared to October last year, the number of nights spent by visitors comprised 344.9 thousand, which is 8.8 % more.
In the first ten months of this year, the number of non-resident and resident visitors comprised 2.3 million, which is 10.7 % more than in the ten months of 2023. However, it is still 5.8 % less than in the first ten months of 2019, during the time before the pandemic, suggesting the hotel sector still has plenty of spare capacity.
Indeed, the average room occupancy rate of hotels and similar accommodation in Latvia was 41.2 % in October (a drop of 0.7 percentage points, compared to October last year), 52.5 % – in Riga (an increase of 0.7 percentage points, compared to October last year).
In October 2024 non-resident arrivals at tourist accommodation establishments accounted for 60.3 % or 119.1 thousand people, which is 18 % more than in October a year ago, but 17.8 % less than in October 2019 before the pandemic.
The number of nights spent by non-residents, compared to October last year, has grown by 12 % and comprised 216.1 thousand. Non-residents on average spent 1.8 nights at tourist accommodation establishments (1.9 nights in October last year).
The largest numbers of non-resident visitors came from Lithuania (16.9 thousand), Estonia (14 thousand), Germany (11.1 thousand), the United Kingdom (7.6 thousand), Finland (7.4 thousand), Spain (5.3 thousand), Poland (5.3 thousand), Sweden (5.1 thousand), the USA (4.9 thousand) and Norway (4.4 thousand).
