Eesti in brief - 2010-01-20

The results of an annually held tourism campaign in St. Petersburg, Russia, organized by Enterprise Estonia, shows that Estonia has become an increasingly popular winter holiday destination among Russians travelers, reports visitestonia.ee. “Estonia is closer than it seems,” the slogan of the campaign, could be found in public transportation and other public areas in St. Petersburg and neighboring cities. Additionally, free trips to Estonia were offered as prizes to the ‘12 luckiest winners.’ Tarmo Mutso, the Enterprise Estonia Estonian Tourism Board Director, said that “the economic downturn was ironically one reason that St. Petersburg tourists were more interested in travel to Estonia; closer and more inexpensive countries are being sought out as an alternative to distant and expensive, exotic travel and the higher-priced Nordics.” The Estonian Embassy in Moscow accepted 5,441 visa applications during December last year, which is 18 percent more than in the same month in 2008. The number of visa applications rose by 30 percent compared with December 2007.

Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has produced a book titled ‘Leading Brands of Estonia,’ introducing brands that have been created in Estonia and have become remarkably well-known on both domestic and export markets, reports LETA. The brand needs to be invented and registered in Estonia to be included in the book. Similarly, the brand had to have a recognizable Estonian heritage, had to be widely recognized, targeted at the end user and preferably meant for export. The most important point is that the company itself positions its brand as an Estonian brand and actively works at its branding. The book is intended to promote Estonia as an innovative country with an advanced economy, as well as to advertise the brands themselves. The publishers hope to raise awareness of the participants, assist them in finding new co-operation partners and thereby increase Estonian exports. The book presents such Estonian brands as A. Le Coq, Balbiino, Balteco, Baltika and BLRT Grupp.