Dear Readers,

Welcome to Visit Estonia's March newsletter for the travel trade!

Nature is starting to wake up and the days are getting longer. With these good news already in store, we are pleased to announce that Fitch Ratings, one of the top three credit rating agencies internationally, has affirmed that Estonia has experienced one of the fastest post-pandemic recoveries in the EU, which brought its economy back on the pre-crisis trajectory in 2Q21 and means that Estonia's economy has weathered the shock well.

We also want to mention the situation in Europe. Although Estonia is located not too far from Russia, we live our daily lives like other European countries do. Estonia supports Ukraine together with the rest of Europe, everyday life in Estonia is fully operational and even though we admit it is difficult to reassure anyone from the distance, we invite you to you stay open minded: you can come here for events and holidays without worries.

Some other small victories Estonia can be proud of are that the smallest hotel ever, Maidla Nature Resort (pictured above), won the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture and a Tallinn's book retailer, Rahva Raamat, was named Bookstore of the year in London. Come and check them out yourself!

Estonia is welcoming all fully vaccinated travellers without any restrictions (no tests, no isolation),latest entry requirements here. All covid restrictions for entering restaurants, museums, spas, hotels, etc. have been lifted and opening hours back to the regular in Estonia. The talk is that also mask requirement will be dropped very soon.

For fresh industry news in between newsletters, you can also check out the trade news on our website. Happy browsing!

                                                        Sincerely yours,

The Visit Estonia Team

Enhance your marketing efforts with business tourism videos

Moving visuals are magic. They engage the imagination and help to explain your product or service to your audience in seconds. If you are ready to introduce Estonia as your business travel destination or are looking for the next versatile location for your meeting or a corporate event, you can now download business tourism activity videos directly from Visit Estonia's web site. From rafting in the abandonded quarries to having gourmet dinners in the Nordic forests or getting creative with crafts, Estonia has plenty of memorable group experiences in store.

New boat to halve Tallinn-Aegna journey times

Aegna Island is a charming oasis in the Tallinn Bay, known for its nature and beautiful coastline. As Aegna is administratively part of the City of Tallinn, it also has the most sandy beaches in the capital of Estonia. Aegna is a popular destination for day visitors, and is permanently inhabited with a small population. From this spring, getting to Aegna will become twice as fast as a newly-purchased vessel, the Vegtind, enters service on May 1. Operated by Spinnaker, Vegtind will cut the current journey time to the island in half, meaning passengers can reach Aegna from Tallinn, and vice versa, in half an hour. The vessel can also accommodate 100 passengers, twice as many as her predecessor.

Spinnaker will announce the journey schedule closer to date. Vegtind will join the other provides taking day travellers to the hidden oasis in the capital.

Add flavour to your events with a culinary experiences

Food can make or break a party. Organised in Tallinn and across Estonia, culinary experiences can be carried out as set programmes as well as fully customised trips based on the specific interests of your customer. You can center your day around them or use them to add interesting, educational and what's most important, delicious flavour to your event. From culinary workshops that function as social entertainment to part of active holidays (think of foraging or fishing trips that are combined with a cooking class), culinary experiences offer a sure-fire way to make your event a memorable one.

Best wellness retreats to beat the screen fatigue

If you are reading this from a screen, the chances are that both you and your customers are secretly dreaming of an off-screen time at some point in this spring. It has been an intense winter and Estonia is an ideal location for taking a mindful and uplifting screen break. From classical saunas, smoke saunas and spas to fasting and use of medicinal plants and mud, Estonia offers a wide array of wellness retreats to give a boost to your body, soul and spirit.

Introducing the new series: Explore the Region: Pärnu

Visit Estonia is proud to introduce our new Explore the Region series. From now on, every monthly newsletter will focus on a unique region of Estonia. There is no better way to kick off the series than with the summer capital Pärnu!

Whether you are interested in visual art and epic concerts, lush spa treatments and luxurious resorts or enjoy all the opportunities the sea, the golf courses or the hiking trails can offer - Pärnu has it all. On May 5th, NyxAir will start flying between Pärnu and Helsinki, June 25th SAS launches their connection between Stockholm and Pärnu, with the international flights arriving and departing from the newly renovated Pärnu Airport. Pärnu is also home to countless cafes and renown restaurants, conference hotels and entertainment venues. The largest and most beautiful beach in Estonia is located right here and closeby you will also find an array of entertainment and active holiday options from Soomaa National Park and Tolkuse bog to Lottemaa - the largest family theme park in Estonia. It is time to think Pärnu!

Estonia gearing up for tourism - news to follow:

Estonia is gearing up for tourism... but you heard it here first!
Read more about the refreshed Tallinn By Mercure hotel next to Tallinn Airport, April opening of Radisson Collection, right out of a total makeover and a new hotel Soho in the Old Town of Tartu as the capital is not the only place for fresh hotels.
Plus, Hyatt Hotel chain's opening plans and new food places around the capital, like Loulou Restaurant - Tallinn's newest hot destination for breakfast and a brunch cafe and a lifestyle store 5 Senses in Tallinn's Old Town.

What has Visit Estonia been up to?

Although it is almost hard to remember, the year 2021 was not only about masks and vaccinations. With a fresh video summary now available, Visit Estonia got around to many amazing things, such as showing Estonian tourism videos in Times Square NYC and moving forward in historical proportions with product and service design. On top that, Visit Estonia also signed representation partners in 12 countries. We are hopeful to be much more present in these countries, creating more personal connections with the travel trade!

Estonia in the media

Sound quiz fun with a trip raffle: test yourself!

Slurching, popping or dripping? These and more sounds that are very characteristic to Estonia - test yourself if you can guess them and you can win a trip!

     Follow #VisitEstonia on Instagram for more stunning captures

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