SLOVENIA: Adria Airways Goes Bankrupt And Ceases Operations

The collapse of Adria Airways has cost Slovenia connections to dozens of international markets, a study has revealed.

The national airline filed for bankruptcy and cancelled all flights on Monday.

Adria had previously withdrawn virtually all its flights last week.

Bankruptcy proceedings were initiated by the management of the company because of the company’s insolvency, the carrier said in a statement.

A study by ForwardKeys, the travel analytics firm, revealed that the bankruptcy resulted in the loss of direct flight connections with two dozen countries, including Czech Republic, Spain and Switzerland, all important origin markets for the country.

Adria has accounted for 60 per cent of all international seat capacity to Slovenia.

Other key source markets such as Austria, Germany and France will also be impacted, as Adria Airways accounted for 99 per cent, 87 per cent and 51 per cent of seat capacity on flights from these countries.

The full list of countries, which had direct connections to Slovenia in the past 12 months and have now lost them, comprises: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.

However, the impact is less dramatic than the list suggests, because some of the routes, such as those from Estonia, Georgia and Greece are seasonal, and others, from Cyprus, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Romania and Ukraine are irregular.

Olivier Ponti, vice president, insights, ForwardKeys, said: Given the attractiveness of Slovenia as a destination, I expect other airlines to fill the gaps left by Adria Airways but how long it will take to get back to the previous level is anyone´s guess.

Slovenia, and its vibrant capital Ljubljana, remain accessible and well worth a visit; however, if you were counting on Adria Airways to get you there quickly, you must now allow more time.

So following the collapse of Adria Airways this week, Slovenia’s only airport in Ljubljana has lost almost half of all its air traffic.

Most flights by Adria Airways were feeder flights to Star Alliance hubs, so it is no great surprise that Lufthansa Group announced today it will launch an entire network out of Ljubljana Joze Pucnik Airport within a month.

Simple Flying first reported in June that an Adria Airways bankruptcy was increasingly likely. Adverse circumstances surrounding the Slovenian flag carrier kept growing over the summer and operations officially ceased in full earlier this week.

For years, Adria has been positioned as a feeder to Lufthansa Group hubs, serving Brussels, Frankfurt, Zurich, Vienna and Munich several times daily.

Adria Airways had such a strong relationship with Lufthansa Group that it also had feeder flights to Frankfurt and Munich from the capitals of Albania and Kosovo.

Thus, with the collapse of Adria, Lufthansa Group has been left with a loss of 216 weekly outbound and inbound flights to channel its connecting passengers.

These include 64 weekly flights to Frankfurt, which even for a giant like Lufthansa is not insignificant. 42 of these flights were from Ljubljana, 6 from Tirana and 16 from Pristina.

To fill the acute gap left by Adria in Ljubljana, several Lufthansa Group airlines are stepping in. An entire network is being formed in Ljubljana by Lufthansa’s airlines, despite the Group not having a single route to Slovenia at all at the moment.

Brussels Airlines is launching a six-times-a-week service in November. This will coincide with Wizz Air pulling out of Slovenia and no longer flying the Ljubljana to Brussels route after seven years.

Today, an announcement followed from Lufthansa Group too, that Lufthansa and Swiss will launch their own services.

Lufthansa CityLine will be flying double daily between Frankfurt and Ljubljana with its CRJ900 aircraft. Flights will depart Frankfurt every day at 09.15 am and 4.40 pm, arriving in Ljubljana at 10.30 am and 5.55 pm.

They will then depart Ljubljana at 11.05 am and 6.30 pm, returning to Frankfurt at 12.25 pm and 7.50 pm. Flights are already bookable, from Sunday 27 October, the first day of the winter schedule.

These are clearly timed to coincide with Lufthansa’s morning arrival wave into Frankfurt and evening departure wave out of it. The route is very clearly intended to be a feeder.

From Munich, the German airline will be flying daily starting Friday 1 November. Flights will depart Munich at 10.45 am to arrive at Ljubljana at 11.45 am. They will then depart Ljubljana again at 1.10 pm to return to Munich at 2.10 pm.

Swiss itself will be the first to begin flying, launching five weekly flights in just two weeks’ time. At the start of the winter schedule, on 27 October, the frequency will increase to daily.

Once the frequency increases to daily, the flights will be operated by Swiss’s A220 aircraft. Until then, presumably, because no spare aircraft are available, flights will run as five weekly with a Helvetic Airways E190.

What will be interesting to see is whether Lufthansa Group airlines expand their schedule to Ljubljana to match the capacity that Adria had on these routes.

Adria had three daily flights to Zurich all summer long, while Swiss has only scheduled a single daily rotation.

Austrian Airlines has been absent from this announcement. Adria’s two daily flights to Vienna remain nonexistent and all the feeder traffic to Austrian and Eurowings left unserved.

With Slovenia’s only airport now fully dominated by Lufthansa Group airlines, it will be interesting to see how they adapt their network over time.

It will also be interesting to see which competitors to Lufthansa Group step in to take some of the market share left vacant by Adria.

Meanwhile, bankruptcy proceedings have officially been initiated against Slovenia's Adria Airways following its cessation of operations.

Documentation issued by the district court in the city of Kranj gives creditors three months, until 3 January 2020, to declare claims against the operator.

It names Janez Pustaticnik as the manager.

Adria's latest operating licence, issued in 2011, has been revoked by the Slovenian civil aviation agency and the carrier banned from operating commercial air transport.

Star Alliance has also confirmed, as a matter of formality, that Adria Airways has left the airline group as a result of the bankruptcy.

Adria ceased to be a member of Star on 2 October, the alliance says. It says the situation is a regrettable development, given that Adria has been a member for 15 years.

But Star points out that its links with Slovenia are being maintained by new services from Lufthansa, Swiss and Brussels Airlines

Tourism Observer

LATVIA: Air Baltic Restart Riga To Dublin Flights 31st Of March 2019

Latvian Flag Carrier Air Baltic has announced that it will restart flights from its hub in Riga to Dublin, Ireland.

The inaugural flight will be on the 31st of March 2019, operated four times a week with the airline’s Airbus A220-300. Air Baltic had previously operated flights between these two cites, however, it discounted it in 2012.

Air Baltic was the launch customer for the A220-300 Previously Bombardier CS300 in 2016. The carrier plans to have an all A220 (CS300) fleet by 2025.

Originally founded in 1995, the airline currently flies to over 70 destinations from Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius—the carrier’s three bases.

For Summer 2019 season, Air Baltic will base A220s at Tallinn and start flights to Malaga, Brussels, and Copenhagen. In addition to Dublin, the airline will also launch Stuttgart and Lviv from Riga.

The flights will run every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Flight BT661 will depart Riga at 07:30, arriving into Dublin at 08:35 local time. The return flight BT662 will depart Dublin at 09:15 local time, arriving back into Riga at 14:10.

Martin Gauss, CEO of Air Baltic, said that he is glad to offer our guests regular flights to Dublin. This route has a strong demand for years now and we are very happy that we can add Dublin to our expanding route portfolio.

Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison also commented on the route’s announcement. This new service to Riga will further enhance the connectivity between Ireland and Latvia and is good news for passengers as it will offer additional choice and convenience, he said.

airBaltic, legally incorporated as AS Air Baltic Corporation, is the flag carrier of Latvia, with its head office on the grounds of Riga International Airport in Mārupe municipality near Riga. Its hub is at Riga International Airport with further bases at Tallinn Airport and Vilnius Airport.

The airline was established as Air Baltic on 28 August 1995 with the signing of a joint venture between Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and the Latvian state.

Operations started on 1 October 1995 with the arrival of the first Air Baltic aircraft, a Saab 340, at Riga, and that afternoon, the plane made the first passenger flight for Air Baltic.

In 1996, the airline's first Avro RJ70 was delivered; and Air Baltic joined the SAS frequent flier club as a partner. 1997 saw the opening of a cargo department and, in 1998, the airline's first Fokker 50 plane was delivered.

The adopted livery was mainly white, with the name of the airline written in blue on the forward fuselage, the 'B' logo being heavily stylized in blue checks. The checker blue pattern was repeated on the aircraft tailfin.

In 1999, Air Baltic became a joint stock company; it was previously a limited liability company. All of their Saab 340s were replaced by Fokker 50s.

By September, the airline had begun operating under the European Aviation Operating Standards, or JAR ops. Air Baltic welcomed the new millennium by introducing new uniforms and opening a cargo center at Riga's airport.

The first Boeing 737–500 joined the fleet in 2003, and on 1 June 2004, Air Baltic launched services from the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, initially to five destinations. In October 2004, Air Baltic was rebranded as AirBaltic.

Their present livery consists of an all-white fuselage and lime tailfin. AirBaltic.com is displayed on the forward upper fuselage, and the word Baltic is repeated in blue on the lower part of the tailfin. In December 2006, the first Boeing 737–300 joined the fleet and was configured with winglets.

In July 2007, AirBaltic introduced an online check-in system. It was the first online check-in system in the Baltic states. In the spring of 2008, two long-haul Boeing 757s joined the existing AirBaltic fleet.

On 10 March 2008, it was announced that in the next three years the airline would acquire new aircraft, experiencing the largest fleet expansion in the company's history. The new additions will be next generation Q400 aircraft.

AirBaltic had strong links with SAS, which owned 47.2% of the airline, and operated frequent flights to SAS hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm, and the airline formerly used the SAS EuroBonus frequent flyer programme, but it now has its own frequent flyer programme called PINS.

Some of AirBaltic's products and services are still shared with SAS, including co-ordinated timetabling and shared airport lounges. AirBaltic is not a member of any airline alliance, but does have codeshare agreements in place with several Star Alliance member airlines and others.

AirBaltic had secondary hubs at Vilnius International Airport and Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport. The majority of the routes commenced from Tallinn were cancelled shortly after opening, leading to complaints from the Estonian Consumer Protection Department.

In January 2009, SAS sold its entire stake in the company 47.2% of the airline to Baltijas aviācijas sistēmas Ltd (BAS) for 14 million lats. BAS was wholly owned by Bertolt Flick - President and CEO until December 2010, when 50% of BAS shares were transferred to Taurus Asset Management Fund Limited, registered in the Bahamas.

airBaltic operates direct year-round and seasonal flights from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, mostly to metropolitan and leisure destinations within Europe. Long-haul flights are not operated.

airBaltic has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

- Aegean Airlines

- Aeroflot

- Air France

- Air Malta

- Air Serbia

- Alitalia

- Austrian Airlines

- Azerbaijan Airlines

- Belavia

- British Airways

- Brussels Airlines

- Czech Airlines

- Etihad Airways

- Georgian Airways

- Iberia

- KLM

- LOT Polish Airlines

- TAP Air Portugal

- TAROM

- Ukraine International Airlines

- Uzbekistan Airways

airBaltic fleet consists of the following aircraft:

- Airbus A220-300: 14

- Boeing 737-300: 6

- Boeing 737-500: 3

- Bombardier Q400: 12

- Total: 35


Tourism Observer

LATVIA: Primera Air Review

Booking with a budget airline is always a risk, but with a number of out-of-country weddings to attend this summer, when Nordic airline Primera Air announced its £99 transatlantic flight sale in March, the deal was too good for me to resist.

The airline introduced transatlantic flights from London to New York, Boston, Washington DC, and Toronto earlier this year— and there were 99 tickets on offer in the sale for each of the routes.

Primera appears to have even cheaper deals from the US, with a number of $99 fares available to Paris and London.

There were even some $69 one-way fares available.

On the day of the £99 sale, the site was so busy I couldn't get on it for hours — but I still managed to bag a one-way fare from London Stansted to Toronto Pearson for August.

The light fare which normally starts at £149 one way from London, only includes the seat and 10kg hand luggage, so I paid £24.99 extra for a 23kg checked bag and £19.99 for an XL reserved seat, paying a total of £143.98 for the one-way ticket.

However, I was one of a number of lucky customers who were bumped up to the premium economy cabin, which would normally start at £499 each way, or $749 from the US.

Since not all reviews of the airline have been positive, I expected this would just mean I'd receive some food and perhaps board before other passengers.

But it was far more luxurious than I thought.

Primera Air is a leisure airline headquartered in Riga, Latvia owned by the Primera Travel Group, an Icelandic tourism company that consists mainly of Nordic tour operators Solresor, Bravo Tours, Lomamatkat, Heimsferðir and Solia.

Its provides scheduled and charter passenger services to leisure destinations from Northern Europe to more than 40 destinations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and North America.

The airline was founded in 2003 as JetX in Iceland, and operated under an Icelandic AOC.

In 2008 Primera Travel Group took ownership of the airline and rebranded it as Primera Air, while also appointing Jón Karl Ólafsson as the new CEO of Primera Air.

In 2009 Primera Air established the subsidiary Primera Air Scandinavia under a Danish Air operator's certificate (AOC) and in 2014 added a Latvian operating license under the name Primera Air Nordic.

Hrafn Thorgeirsson was appointed Managing Director of Primera Air Scandinavia in 2009 while Jón Karl remained CEO of Primera Air.

The head offices for the holding company and airline remained in Iceland until 2014 when the main offices were moved to Riga, Latvia.

The success of Primera Travel Group in Denmark, Sweden and Iceland facilitated further expansion and growth during the next years; in July 2014 Primera Air flew 155.000 passengers in 1006 flights with an average flight seat utilisation of 91%.

Initially, Primera Air operated charter flights for major Scandinavian tour operators, but gradually started selling surplus seats as flight-only tickets on some of the fixed charter flights in 2013.

The continued success allowed Primera Air to increase both the number of routes and flight frequency, resulting in a mixed charter/scheduled carrier business model.

Today the majority of Primera Air flights are scheduled, although some flights combine charter and regular passengers, and separate full charter flight services are also available.

In August 2014 Primera Air announced the founding of a new airline, Primera Air Nordic, IATA code 6F in Latvia, which would be run parallel to Primera Air Scandinavia.

Simultaneously, a new Network Control Center was opened in Riga for overseeing all operational matters of the airline, focusing on continuation of the healthy development enjoyed in prior years and to expand into markets beyond Scandinavia.

A supportive business environment, skilled workforce and high quality standards were the key factor for moving the control center.

Hrafn Thorgeirsson was appointed as the new CEO of both Primera Air Scandinavia and Primera Air Nordic.

The major restructuring and consolidation had a positive impact on the airline. In 2015 Primera Air operated eight aircraft with a turnover of 250 million USD, and earned more than 5.2 million euros in total revenue before taxes (EBITDA).

During the first 8 months of 2016, the airline had earned 4 million euros with an estimate of 7.60 million by the end of the year.

Today Primera Air is essentially a Danish-Latvian airline with Icelandic owners.

Generally Primera Air operates return flights from its Scandinavian airports to popular holiday destinations along the Mediterranean coast of

Europe and Africa, the Canary Islands, the Azores, Madeira, Bulgaria and Turkey, as well as custom charter flights to virtually any destination. The airline maintains seasonal summer and winter selections.

The selection of scheduled flight destinations has gradually expanded since their introduction in 2013.

In late 2014 Primera Air launched 10 new winter and summer direct flight destinations from Iceland, namely, Las Palmas, Tenerife, Alicante, Salzburg, Malaga, Mallorca and Barcelona, Bologna, Crete and Bodrum.

On 26 October 2014 Primera Air launched weekly flights from Gothenburg and Malmö to Dubai (Al Maktoum) and Tenerife, from Helsinki to Fuerteventura and Las Palmas.

On November 16 the airline commenced a new route from Keflavik to New York (JFK) after acquiring rights to serve the United States. Later that year the airline started four new weekly routes: Aalborg-Las Palmas, Copenhagen-Billund-Lanzarote, Aarhus-Tenerife and Aalborg-Fuerteventura.

In 2015, Primera Air signed agreements worth 30 million euros with several leading travel agencies in France for operating a series of flights with 2 aircraft from Charles de Gaulle airport to popular holiday destinations during summer.

In February 2016 Croatian destinations of Dubrovnik and Pula were added to the range of flight destinations. In May 2016 the airline commenced regular flights from Billund to Nice and Venice.

Shortly afterwards flights to Antalya were introduced. Later that year Primera Air announced the increase in frequency for existing destinations as well as new destinations (Milan and Rome) from Stockholm for the summer season of 2017.

It was done in an effort to strengthen its operations and presence in Sweden and in line with plans for further fleet and destination range expansion.

Later that year Trieste, Almería and Lamezia Terme were added as destinations.

Summer 2017 saw the addition of routes to Kalamata, Ponta Delgada and Madeira. In July 2017, Primera Air announced they would start transatlantic flights in 2018 to Newark, Boston and Toronto-Pearson from Birmingham, London Stansted and Paris Charles de Gaulle with a fleet of 8 Airbus A321neo aircraft.

In early 2018 Washington DC was added as the latest transatlantic destination, while Athens, Kos and Zakynthos are the latest holiday destination additions.

Primera Air has announced increased flight frequency for flights to its most popular destinations in southern Spain, and the pricing policy on these routes has allowed it to compete with the low-cost carrier Norwegian.

In June 2018, citing delivery delays by Airbus of its A321neo fleet, Primera cancelled all transatlantic flights to and from Birmingham Airport scheduled on or after 21 June 2018.

Transatlantic flights to and from Birmingham were expected to resume in 2019. However in July 2018, Primera Air announced it will terminate all operations at Birmingham Airport by October 2018.

In August 2018, the airline announced 3 new routes from Brussels to Boston-Logan begins 2 June 2019, Newark begins 9 May 2019 and Washington-Dulles International Airport begins 2 June 2019.

2 Boeing 737 MAX 9 will be based in Belgium. And it announced 3 new routes from Berlin to Boston-Logan begins 9 June 2019, Newark begins 7 June 2019 and Toronto begins 10 June 2019 using their Boeing 737 MAX 9.

In September 2018, Primera announced 4 new routes from a new European base at Frankfurt. The routes are New York Newark begins 16 June 2019, Boston begins 21 June 2019, Montreal begins 16 July 2019 and Toronto begins 16 July 2019. This will be operated by their 737 MAX-9s.

Primera Air offers charter services for the following companies:

Travel agencies within Primera Travel Group: Heimsferoir, Bravo Tours, Matka-Vekka, Lomamatkat, Solia, Solresor and Terra Nova Iceland.
Third-party travel agencies: 747 Travel, Travel City Sports and Urval-Utsyn.

The Primera Air fleet, consisting of aircraft operated by Primera Air and Primera Air Nordic, consists of the following aircraft:

- Airbus A321neo = 5

- Boeing 737-700 = 2

- Boeing 737-800 = 7

- Total = 14

Primera Aircraft Orders Currently:

- Boeing 737 MAX 9 = 18 To be delivered in 2019. 8 aircraft leased from Air Lease Corporation.

- Boeing 737-800 = 1

- Airbus A321neo = 1 To be delivered in 2018

- Airbus A321LR = 2 To be delivered in 2018


Tourism Observer

PORTUGAL: TAP Portugal And airBaltic Sign Codeshare Deal

Riga based carrier airBaltic and TAP Air Portugal have signed a codesharing agreement between the two airlines.

This partnership will enable airBaltic passengers through to TAP’s extensive network of international destinations such as Brazil and Africa with TAP benefiting more on flights to the Baltics, Scandinavia and other areas of Eastern Europe.

Martin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic said that TAP Air Portugal is already our 21st codeshare partner, thus we are further extending the impressive portfolio of partner airlines that ensures smooth and seamless travel for airBaltic customers around the world.

The CEO added that airBaltic will sell flights between Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn and TAP Air Portugal domestic network via Lisbon, as well to Lisbon via common gateways, better connecting Baltics to the world.

Antonoaldo Neves, Chief Executive Officer of TAP, said that this newest partnership with airBaltic will allow TAP Air Portugal customers to take advantage of new direct flights to Latvia and connecting services to the Baltic countries.

Thereby adding convenience and travel options to Northern Europe, in complementarity with TAP direct services to Scandinavia and Finland, he stated.

As part of the agreement, TAP will place its TP flight code on direct flights between Riga and Lisbon that are already operated by airBaltic as well as via common gateways between the Portuguese carrier’s network and Riga.

With TAP operating to 83 destinations across 35 countries, this is a big boost for airBaltic to get their name out further across the international industry.


Tourism Observer

EUROPE: Some Dangerous Cities

Europe expereiences a high level of safety, violence does occur and patterns of where and when it does can appear.

This is measured from a city's its homicide rate, which is defined as the intentional death of a citizen at the hands of another citizen or citizens.

These rates are calculated to be per capita, so although one city may experience a higher number of murders than another, if their population is larger the murder rate will be lower as a result.

Areas such as Central and South America and Africa can see rates reaching 50 murders per 100,000 residents, and the homicide rate of the United States is around 5 per 100,000.

Tallinn, Estonia - 5.5 homicides per 100,000 people

Tallinn is a city in Estonia, situated on the northern coast of the country. With a relatively small population of 443,894, the city experienced 22 homicides in 2010, bringing its rate to 5.5 per 100,000.

This sits lower than the murder rate of Estonia that was calculated between 1999 and 2001, which was calculated as a high of 9.4 per 100,000 people.

The general trend appears to be that the homicide rate in Tallinn is decreasing, as 40 murders were reported in 2005, standing in contrast to 2010.

However, Tallinn's small population size, relatively large amount of murders per capita, and position on a continent where violent crime is highly uncommon gives it a place at the top of this list.

Glasgow, Scotland - 5.1 homicides per 100,000 people

Glasgow is the largest city of Scotland, located in the United Kingdom.

In 2010, the homicide rate of Glasgow was 5.1 per 100,000 residents, calculated from a total of 30 murders that were experienced in the city that year.

30 is a number that appears to be average for the number of violent deaths in Glasgow every year, a number that may be due to organized gangs and turf wars.

Vilnius, Lithuania - 4.7 homicides per 100,000 people

Vilnius is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, which is located in the Baltic states.

In 2010, Vilnius reported 26 crimes, producing a crime rate of 4.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.

This number was, however, actually a decrease from the crime rates experience prior to 2010, which reached a high in 2008 when 58 homicides were recorded resulting in a rate of 10.4 per 100,000 residents.

Despite these numbers of homicides that appear relatively high for Europe, visitors are still much more likely to encounter petty crime such as pickpocketing and credit card theft.

Moscow, Russia - 4.2 homicides per 100,000 people

Moscow is the capital of Russia and the largest city on the European continent with 12.2 million inhabitants.

It is a major cultural center of Europe and is located on the Moskva River.

In 2010, there were 483 homicides reported in Moscow, although this was a decrease from numbers seen in 2005, 2006 and 2007, where 766, 767, and 629 murders were reported respectively.

This decrease in murders may be a sign that violent crime in Moscow is decreasing, although other crime such as car theft remains a problem in this major city.

Podgorica, Montenegro - 3.5 homicides per 100,000 people

Podgorica is the largest city of Montenegro, as well as serving as the nation's capital. Between 1946 and 1992, when Montenegro was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia), the city was known as Titograd.

In 2010, there were 7 deaths by homicide recorded in Podgorica.

This is a number that seems pretty on-trend for what is reported for Podgorica, although the year 2006 did see an influx of homicides, with 12 in the year bringing the homicide rate of the time up to 6.5 per 100,000 residents.

Belfast, Northern Ireland - 3.3 homicides per 100,000 people

Belfast is the largest city in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom and located in the north of the island of Ireland.

In 2010, Belfast reported a homicide rate of 3.3, which was calculated from nine murders, given Belfast's relatively small population of 286,000.

This crime rate, however, is part of a trend in the lowering of homicides in Northern Ireland.

During the Troubles of the 1970s and 80s, the crime rate of Northern Ireland was closer to 31 per 100,000, which is similar to the homicide rate that could be found in Colombia or South Africa during the early 2010s.

Riga, Latvia - 3.3 homicides per 100,000 people

Riga is the largest city in Latvia, a country located in the Baltic states.

In 2010, there were 23 murders in the city, resulting in a homicide rate of 3.3.

Although the historic city is known to be relatively safe, public parks and the heavily-touristed Old Town are known to be areas where crime could be more likely to occur, although much of this may be petty crime such as pickpocketing.

2010, however, appears to have been slightly lower than what is average for Riga, as the years 2005-2009 each saw over 30 reported homicide incidents.

Kiev, Ukraine - 3.2 homicides per 100,000 people

Kiev is the largest city and capital of the Eastern European country of Ukraine. In 2010, 118 of Kiev's residents were victims of homicide, creating a murder rate of 3.2

This appears to be a number that is a somewhat annual average for Kiev, where murder rates are about 100 per year.

The public transit system, including suburban trains, have been singled out as potential hotbeds for violent crime in Kiev due to their tendency to be overcrowded and require repairs.

Zurich, Switzerland - 3.0 homicides per 100,000 people

Zurich is the largest city in the central European nation of Switzerland.

In 2010, there were 11 homicides reported in the city, which creates a murder rate of 3.0 when the city's low population of less than half a million is taken into consideration.

2010, however, does appear to be somewhat of an anomaly for this Swiss urban area, as both the years 2009 and 2011 saw only 4 and 1 murders, respectively.

Brussels, Belgium - 2.8 homicides per 100,000 people

Brussels is the largest city in Belgium, located in Western Europe.

It is also well known for being the capital of the European Union (EU).

In 2010, there were 31 murders in Brussels, a number that appears to be average for the city with the year 2008 being a slight exception when 44 homicides were reported.

In 2001, Brussels was the fourth most crime-ridden city in Europe, although this number also took into other crimes such as burglary and assault.




Tourism Observer

ROMANIA: Romania Among Least Popular Tourist Testinations For Foreign Tourists In The EU

Romania was among the least popular tourist destinations for foreign tourists in the EU, in 2015, along with much smaller countries such as Slovakia, Latvia, and Luxembourg, according to data from EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

The statistics take into consideration the number of nights spent by foreign tourists in local hotels and guest houses.

The four most popular EU destinations for non-residents were Spain (270 million nights), Italy (193 million nights), France (130 million nights), and the United Kingdom (118 million nights), which together accounted for more than half of total nights spent by non-residents in the EU.

Meanwhile, less than 5 million nights were registered in Romanian accommodation units in 2015, the number being over two times lower than the one registered in neighboring Bulgaria (more than 13 million nights), and Hungary (almost 13 million nights).

The only EU Member Countries doing worse than Romania, based on number of nights spent by non-residents, were Slovakia – around 4.38 million nights, Estonia – 3.77 million, Lithuania – 3 million, Latvia – 2.87 million, and Luxembourg – 2.65 million, all being much smaller countries than Romania.

Romania is also last in the EU on tourism intensity, which results from dividing the number of nights spent by both foreign and local tourists in local hotels by the number of inhabitants.

Malta, Croatia, Cyprus, Austria, and Spain are the most tourism intensive countries in the EU.

Moreover, foreign tourists continue to spend less in Romania than Romanian tourists spend abroad, Eurostat statistics show.

In 2015, Romanian tourists spent some EUR 1.85 billion abroad while foreign tourists spent EUR 1.54 billion in Romania.

Spain has the highest positive balance from international tourism, with net receipts of over EUR 35 billion, followed by Italy – EUR 13.5 billion, and Greece – EUR 12 billion.

Meanwhile, Germany is the biggest spender, with net expenditure of EUR 36.6 billion, followed by UK – EUR 16 billion, and Belgium – EUR 6.2 billion.

The Romanian Ministry of Tourism announced last week that the country’s tourism promotion offices abroad, which are the institutions that promote the Romanian tourism abroad and attract foreign tourists to Romania, will shut down and their employees will return to the country.

Foreign tourists spend on average EUR 525 per person in Romania

Tourism minister: Nobody knows for sure how many foreign tourists come to Romania

Number of incoming foreign tourists to Romania up to 2.47 million in 2016

CHINA: Central And Eastern Europe Tourism Exchange Week Event In Ningbo

The official Central And Eastern Europe Tourism Exchange Week will open today, June 7th 2017 in the coastal city of Ningbo.

The event is organized by Ningbo Tourism Administration.

The Central and Eastern Europe exchange is the third Chinese Investment and Trade Expo of its type. Central and Eastern European tourism exchange week is the Chinese government directive to expand mutual cooperation and development in the region.

The exchange week welcomes official representatives from the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Benin and Romania.

Ningbo is a beautiful coastal city on the East China Sea. It has advanced transportation infrastructure, a developed information & technology industry, and over two thousand years of Chinese history and culture.

Ningbo is a thriving social and business environment, representing modern China's many decades of development, urban management and the unprecedented growth of industry.

Ningbo is an ideal window into understanding the development of China. To host the third China International Investment and Trade Expo at this week's exchange is of great importance to the city of Ningbo.

The representatives and their nation states have expressed their willingness to cooperate fully under the mutually beneficial framework of "One Belt One Road" cooperation.

The framework will aim to increase quantities of Chinese tourists traveling to the participating country within this year. The "One Belt One Road" agreement plans a new era of Chinese tourism and prosperity for all participating countries.

MOLDOVA: Air Moldova Expands With Another Embraer E190,Wizz Air Opens Presence In Moldova

Air Moldova has taken delivery of another Embraer E190 regional jet. The aircraft with the seating capacity for 140 passengers was ferried to Air Moldova’s base airport in Chisinau on November 20, the carrier announced. In line with the carrier’s strategy the aircraft should enable the airline to launch flights to new destinations. Its first flight will be from Moldovan capital to Rome.

With this aircraft, Air Moldova’s fleet now has three Embraer E190s. The latest addition is the aircraft produced in 2009 and previously operated by Lufthansa and Turkish BoraJet. According to open sources the aircraft is a long-range (LR) modification and has tail number ER-ECD.

Notably, Air Moldova is among the world’s leading operators of ERJ190 by flight hours. In August 2016 it demonstrated the best results in terms of operating rate. The average monthly flight hours increased almost 80% compared to July, to 15.18 flight hours per day.

Air Moldova currently operates seven aircraft. Besides the three Embraer E190LRs the airline flies an Airbus A321, two A320s and one A319. The carrier’s route network features over 25 destinations, including Greece, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, the Great Britain and Portugal. It two destinations in Russia are St. Petersburg and Moscow, and a route to Krasnodar is expected to open next year.

Last year Air Moldova’s passenger traffic for the first time exceeded 1 million passengers. Suspension of air connection between Russia and Ukraine greatly contributed to the carrier’s traffic growth.

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air will launch a new base at Chisinau Airport, Moldova, from March 2017. The airline has recently opened a base in Kutaisi, Georgia, and is looking into strengthening its presence in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics further on.

The airline announces Chisinau will be its 26th base while Moldova will become the 14th country where Wizz Air performs base operations.

The flights from Chisinau will be operated by a single narrow-body A320. Starting from March 2017 the airline will launch two new twice-weekly services to Berlin Schoenefeld and Barcelona.

Considering these new destinations, Wizz Air’s route network from Chisinau will consist of seven routes to four countries.

The company will also increase frequencies on existing routes to Bologna and Venice from two to three and from three to four weekly flights correspondingly.

Wizz Air plans to invest 98 million dollars in the new Chisinau base and hire 36 people as crew members.

Within the post-Soviet area the Hungarian low-cost company performs base operations from Kutaisi (Georgia), Kyev (Ukraine), Vilnus (Lithuania) and Riga (Latvia).

THAILAND: Thailand Doubles Visa-on-arrival For 18 Countries

The new charge will come into effect on 27 September, and apply to the citizens of all 18 countries offered visa-on-arrival in Thailand. These include China, India, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.

The newspaper reported the Thai Foreign Ministry as saying that the decision to implement a 100% increase was based on the belief that the current charge is lower than the visa fees paid by Thai tourists visiting other countries.

The timing of the decision is not ideal however; Thailand’s tourism authorities are working hard to encourage international travellers not to cancel their trips to the kingdom, following the recent bombings in several resort areas. The reason for the attacks is still unclear.

The other countries offered visa-on-arrival to Thailand are Bulgaria, Bhutan, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Romania, San Marino, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

LATVIA: Riga Will Host Baltic Connecting 2016

The most important event in the Baltics for tourism professionals will be organized already for the 10th time.

The aim of the international tourism forum "Baltic Connecting" is to inform tourism industry professionals about tourism opportunities in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, by acquainting them with the tourism offers and services in the region, as well as create the opportunity for foreign tourism professionals to meet with potential cooperation partners in the Baltics and establish new contacts.

For the first time “Baltic Connecting 2016” will focus on the growing significance of long-haul markets, inviting to the Baltic region travel trade professionals from Japan, USA, China and South Korea.

The largest and most important event in the Baltics for tourism professionals "Baltic Connecting 2016" will be organized for the 10th time. The event will gather travel trade representatives to promote Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian tourism products and acquire new business contacts.

The programme will include: a workshop (4.10.2016 Latvia), consisting of destination presentations, scheduled individual B2B meetings and networking with Baltic travel agents and professionals from the different fields of the tourism industry, as well as socializing with representatives of travel companies from long-haul markets; international tourism conference(4.10.2016 Latvia) focusing on market trends, destination marketing and cooperation in attracting tourists from distant markets and study trips to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania (05.-08.10.2016) for travel trade professionals from long-haul markets, with the aim of introducing the attendees to the diverse tourism opportunities in the region.

LATVIA: airBaltic Flying Vilnius To Tallinn

airBaltic commenced services between Vilnius (VNO) and Tallinn (TLL) on 18 April. The 529-kilometre sector will be served by the carrier twice-daily on weekdays with no weekend service according to OAG Schedules Analyser data.

airBaltic will utilise its Q400 fleet on the route. Martin Gauss, CEO of airBaltic, commented on the launch by saying: “The opening of a Vilnius to Tallinn route is a symbolic new beginning for airBaltic, as it marks the successful conclusion of our restructuring programme.

Under the restructure, it was one of 14 profitable routes that we had to give up, and now we are relaunching it so that our Baltic customers benefit from convenient morning and evening departures, and considerably lower fares on the route.”

airBaltic will face direct competition on the route from Nordica which operates a 16 times weekly service between the two capital cities. For airBaltic this service becomes its third Baltic capital connection, with it already connecting both Vilnius and Tallinn with its Riga hub in Latvia.

Vilnius Airport celebrated the start of airBaltic’s flights to Tallinn on 18 April with cupcakes which were handed out to passengers by Arturas Stankevicius, Director of Vilnius Airport.

The Lithuanian facility also conducted a traditional ribbon cutting ceremony to cement the start of services. Conducting the ceremony is Stankevicius along with Inga Slapelyte, Junior Sales Manager for the airline.

Flights will be operated double-daily on weekdays using Q400s.

Tallinn Airport celebrated airBaltic’s launch of flights from Vilnius with this fantastic cake. Flights on the 529-kilometre sector will be operated by the airline’s fleet of Q400s.

World's Unfriendliest & Friendliest Countries For Tourists

When traveling, some countries just don't like you. Or at least, it can certainly feel that way.

A new report, put out earlier this month by the World Economic Forum, has ranked which countries roll out the welcome mat to travelers and which give the cold shoulder.

The "Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013" ranked 140 countries according to attractiveness and competitiveness in the travel and tourism industries.

Unwelcoming

Among the extensive analyses, one of the most interesting rankings was how welcome tourists are in each country, under the category "Attitude of population toward foreign visitors."

And the world's most unfriendly country, according to the data?

Bolivia took the dubious honor, scoring a 4.1 out of seven on a scale of "very unwelcome" (0) to "very welcome" (7).

Venezuela and the Russian Federation were next.

Interestingly, despite their huge tourist arrivals, South Korea and China tied with four other countries for the eighth least friendly spot.

At the other end of the scale, Iceland and New Zealand were ranked the world's most welcoming nations for visitors.

You can see a top 10 for friendliest and unfriendliest at the bottom of this article.

Strengths and weaknesses

The "friendly" ranking was just one aspect of the report, analyzing each country's competitiveness in travel and tourism. That competitiveness is "based on the extent to which they are putting in place the factors and policies to make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism sector."

In the overall Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, Europe was the top region with the first five positions all held by European countries. Switzerland, Germany and Austria were the top three in that order. Switzerland has headed the ranking since the index began five years ago.

Excellent tourism infrastructure and facilities, business travel appeal, sustainable development of natural resources and rich cultural resources were among the key factors in landing the highest positions in the rankings.

Safety/security, underdeveloped infrastructure and concerns about sustainable development were among the factors bringing down countries' competitiveness.

Haiti scored the lowest on the competitiveness index.

The United States (6th) topped the combined Americas, Singapore (10th) just pushed out Australia and New Zealand to lead the Asia Pacific region, the United Arab Emirates (28th) was the highest performer in the Middle East and the Seychelles (38th) overtook Mauritius to head Africa.

The report emphasized the need for continued development in the travel and tourism sector particularly for its role in job creation in a relatively stagnant global economy. The industry currently accounts for one in 11 jobs in the world.

The report used data compiled from the World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey and hard data from private sources and national and international agencies and organizations such as the ICAO, IATA, UNWTO, World Bank/International Finance Corporation, IUCN, WHO and UNESCO.

Attitude of population toward foreign visitors
(1 = very unwelcome; 7 = very welcome)

Friendliest

1. Iceland 6.8
2. New Zealand 6.8
3. Morocco 6.7
4. Macedonia, FYR 6.7
5. Austria 6.7
6. Senegal 6.7
7. Portugal 6.6
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina 6.6
9. Ireland 6.6
10. Burkina Faso 6.6

Unfriendliest

1. Bolivia 4.1
2. Venezuela 4.5
3. Russian Federation 5.0
4. Kuwait 5.2
5. Latvia 5.2
6. Iran 5.2
7. Pakistan 5.3
8. Slovak Republic 5.5
9. Bulgaria 5.5
10. Mongolia 5.5