Spending set for advertising Riga

RIGA - The Riga City Council plans to allot at least 1 million lats (1.4 million euros) to the Riga Tourism Development Bureau (RTDB) next year, Riga Vice Mayor Andris Ameriks (LPP/LC) announced during the RTDB brand Live Riga partners’ forum on Nov. 3, reports Nozare.lv. Ameriks explained that this year, RTDB received from the municipality a total of 1.8-1.9 million lats.
The vice mayor also added that the bureau could receive additional funding to popularize Riga in the spring of 2012.

Last year, the Riga City Council initially planned to spend 1.5 million lats on tourism development. “Of course, it can be sad that not everything has been achieved and that there is still much to do; however, Live Riga has united Riga’s tourism policy. We must continue to work and cooperate even more, and the Riga City Council resolves to support RTDB and allocate additional funding to advertise Riga,” said Ameriks.

RTDB was established by the Riga City Council, the national airline airBaltic, the Latvian Hotel and Restaurant Association (LVRA) and the Latvian Travel Agents’ Association (ALTA) in 2009. RTDB promotes tourism and marketing abroad and shows what Riga has to offer tourists.

Seventy percent of RTDB’s voting rights are held by the Riga City Council, while the remaining founders each hold 10 percent.