Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Markets and Companies, Tourism

"In my estimation, the state should focus more on the Finnish market," Loodmaa told. He said there are two reasons why the number of Finnish tourists has dropped. "One of those is definitely the taxation policy that has been implemented in Estonia. It comes as no surprise that Finns have always visited Estonia for specific shopping purposes and if it is no longer attractive to them, they will stop doing it," the chairman said.

"Another likely thing is that Finland is doing well and people have more money. Thus, they make different purchasing decisions and travel somewhere further away because they have that option," Loodmaa added.

In addition to the decreasing number of Finnish tourists in Estonia, Loodmaa said he is worried about accommodation establishments experiencing a decline in profitability and a shortage of staff. "There is clearly a shortage of staff in the sector and solving that will be our big challenge for the coming years," he noted.

For accommodation establishments, the year 2018 has been more or less as it was expected to be, Loodmaa said. "While the previous year was very good particularly to Tallinn due to the presidency [of the Council of the European Union], this year has not put us through a setback, which is important," the chairman said.

Loodmaa added that it is too early to predict if, similarly to previous years, the number of Russian tourists will increase around the turn of the year. Russian tourists' interest this year can be commented on in depth in mid-December, he added.

"What is happening in tourism today is that people are making their purchasing decisions increasingly more often at the last minute," Loodmaa said.