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

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.

UAE: Fly Dubai Expands To Georgia, Azerbaijan, Montenegro

Flydubai has announced the addition of three new destinations for the upcoming summer season.

Batumi in Georgia, Qabala in Azerbaijan and Tivat in Montenegro are the latest destinations to join flydubai’s growing network and will operate from June to September 2017.

Following the launch of its latest popular destination, Bangkok, at the end of 2016, flydubai continues to diversify its network with the addition of more popular summer destinations for passengers from Dubai and across the region.

Flydubai will be the first carrier to offer direct flights from the UAE to Qabala and Tivat, and the first from Dubai to Batumi. GCC nationals will not need a visa to any of these three new destinations, while UAE residents will receive visa on arrival.

“We would like to thank the authorities in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Montenegro for making it easier for the residents of the UAE and GCC to visit these countries by facilitating their visa requirements,” said Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer at flydubai, commenting on the announcement.

“We continue to look for opportunities to further expand our network and offer our passengers more options to travel especially for the summer holiday season. These popular new routes will complement our existing comprehensive network and will be a gateway to explore this part of the region,” added Al Ghaith.

Supported by new aircraft deliveries in 2017, flydubai continues to widen its network, which comprises 93 destinations in 44 countries spanning from Yekaterinburg in the north, Bangkok in the east, Zanzibar in the south and Prague in the west.

Batumi, which will be served by three flights a week, will be flydubai’s second destination in Georgia following Tbilisi. Qabala, which will be served by two fights a week, is flydubai’s second point in Azerbaijan after Baku. The start of two weekly flights to Tivat will mark flydubai’s first entry to Montenegro following the successful promotional trip that was held in October 2016 in partnership with Porto Montenegro.

“We are confident that the demand for these new summer flights will be strong in both Business and Economy Class. The interest in affordable, popular and off-the-beaten-track holiday destinations continues to grow especially from the GCC markets and these routes offer alternative options for those seeking a beach holiday or city breaks,” said Jeyhun Efendi, senior vice president commercial (UAE, EU, ME, CIS) at flydubai.

Batumi, Georgia
Flydubai will operate three weekly flights between Dubai and Batumi from June 22 to September 30, 2017 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Batumi is the second largest city in Georgia, located on the coast of the Black Sea in the country's southwest region. Tivat, MontenegroBatumi is a popular tourist destination known for its bustling seaside resorts during the warm months of the summer. The city is also an important sea port with thriving shipbuilding, food processing and light manufacturing industries.

Qabala, Azerbaijan
Flydubai will operate two weekly flights between Dubai and Qabala from June 22 to September 17, 2017 on Thursdays and Sundays.

Qabala, also known as Gabala, is the capital of the Gabala District one of the richest archeological and historic regions of Azerbaijan. Qabala is considered a popular tourist destination due to the combination of a mild climate, woods along the mountains, excellent wildlife and recreational resorts.

Tivat, Montenegro
Flydubai will operate two weekly flights between Dubai and Tivat from 23 June to 25 September 2017 on Mondays and Fridays.

Already a popular tourist resort, Tivat is set to become a nautical tourism centre for the southern Adriatic. This coastal town in southwest Montenegro is renowned for its pleasant climate and natural beauty and is conveniently located a short drive away from Dubrovnik in Croatia and Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

RUSSIA: Russian Federation Refuses Pobeda Airlines To Fly To Turin

“The Interdepartmental Commission at the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation has refused "Pobeda" to perform regular flights to Turin”, - according to the published order of the Federal Air Transport Agency on Tuesday.

The carrier requested admittance of flights on this destination 7 times a week. The airline companies "Siberia" (S7 group) and "Ural Airlines" also claimed to this slot. As a result, according to the order, the first company received 5 frequencies per week, the second one - 2.

It was reported earlier, that "Pobeda" gained admission to 7 frequencies per week to another Italian city - Pisa. Flights on this route the company plans to open in the winter schedule 2016/2017. Currently, "Pobeda" performs flights to Milan.

"Pobeda" is a low cost carrier of "Aeroflot" group. Flights are performed by 12 Boeing-737-800 to 58 destination, including 8 international: to several cities in Germany, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Montenegro and Cyprus.

RUSSIA: Russian Tourism Improves In 2016

Mediterranean destinations and Southeast Asia attracted this year more Russian tourists after the problems in Turkey and Egypt, according to the Director of Russian Tour Operators Association (ATOR) Maya Lomidze.

She revealed that the first data on Russians' holidays abroad this summer indicate an increased demand throughout the entire season for Mediterranean destinations such as Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy along with a slight increase for Croatia and Montenegro.

Southeast Asia made a comeback in the top ten popular destinations after two years of weak demand. Another important finding is the increased demand for Tunisia this year, at a rate of over 200% compared with last year, positioning the destination among the top-3.

Ms. Lomidze added that Russians seek more affordable accommodation and flights this year with the average package cost ranging around $600.

Nevertheless, they are still among the most generous tourists with the average spending per trip reaching as high as 500 euros.

ESTONIA: Will Russian Tourists Visit Estonia

For this summertime season, worryingly low are bookings at Estonia’s hotels. Should visitors be down just as sharply as in winter, the blow for local tourism biz might prove severe. For several players, outright catastrophic.

At the moment, bookings are down from all main markets, but in a month we’ll see how dramatic it will be in peak season,said Estonian Travel and Tourism Association president Külli Karing.

If the 11 percent drop is carried over into the summer, the sustainability of the service may start to be affected, because in the summer period every percent equals a much larger amount of people and bigger money.

Lots of hotels make majority of their income in the summers and should the clients disappear, they might not be able to keep doors open.

At the beginning of the year, Estonia fell to the bottom of European tourism barrel, with Finland, and Slovakia, as in the other 16 nations surveyed by EU tourism committee the trend was uphill.

Due to poor economy, the Russians dropped their traditional travels to Estonia in the winter, leading to an over 11 percent drop, confirmed the study. The Finns, also dependent on Eastern neighbours, fared worse still – more than a fifth of visitors were lost.

Russians cut back travels into lion’s share of European nations, except for Montenegro and Romania. Therefore, the damage done to our tourism business revealed our deep addiction to visitors from the East, and an inability to replace Russian tourists with folks from elsewhere.

On top of the tourism services VAT rise, cold-bloodedly and ill-timely served up by the new government, entrepreneurs are troubled by the drying up of connections with the world outside. The disappearance of train lines to Moscow and St Petersburg may seem like a tragedy of the few railway companies, but Ms Karing says this is suffocating for all tourism companies.

Up to now, any new travel channel opened such as an air line has blessed Estonian hotels with added visitors. Tourism firms in Ida-Viru County, blooming mainly due to Russian citizens, acknowledge the downturn to come but believe their former good clients would still find the near-Narva beaches this summer as well.

To attract tourists, Ida-Viru people have joined forces, to sell packages of hotels, Narva Castle, mining museum, and Alutaguse Adventure Park.

At the moment, the tempo of bookings is below the average, the foreign tourists are fewer as they desire more options, to see more places that would be attractive, related Sergei Jegorovtsev, senior sales manager at Meresuu Hotel.

We are rather negatively affected by the campaign in Russia promoting internal tourism whereby they want people to visit Crimea and spend their money there, not in neighbouring Estonia.

As for the tourism VAT in the situation where tourists are drying up is, according to Mr Jegorovtsev, a matter of life and death. We expect the government to show understanding and support in the difficult situation: we would need help to advertise in neighbouring countries, not to have tax raised, said Mr Jegorovtsev.

Thankfully, this past month the rouble has stayed stable, making the Estonian price level much friendlier towards Russians as compared to just a few months back. While the rouble rate plummeted and Russian travel agencies sizzled in bankruptcies, bookings were cancelled en masse.

New companies arose in the place of those that went bankrupt, we begun to form relations with them, but there are fewer people coming via the new companies as the people trust them less,admitted Mr Jegorovtsev.

At the moment, we have more of the domestic tourists than Russian ones, as we have made special offers for locals.

Likewise, Narva-Jõesuu town government is predicting a drop in tourist arrivals, but is drawing its plans hoping that their summer-friends will still find the way back somehow.

We hope that Russia being so close by the people will return, said Narva-Jõesuu town government culture specialist Jevgeni Timoštsuk.

A tourist will not leave behind as much money as last year. My acquaintances and friends from Russia reckon that perhaps they will stay at a hotel, eat breakfast there, but the supper they will buy in grocery store.

With great festivity, this coming Sunday Narva-Jõesuu will open the beach season. Despite the fact that the longest beach in Estonia and probably in the Baltics was cleaned up by the start of this week and lined with changing rooms, as Postimees paid a visit is was just these five US students trying to have a good time there, who study Russian at Narva College.

It was so cold that the poor youth were shuddering. Hailing from Carolina, a lad said it was 30 degrees Celsius back home. Still, he said Narva-Jõesuu is a nice place to be.

A town of 2,700 inhabitants, Narva-Jõesuu swells to 15,000 in summer – mainly on account of Estonian domestic tourists and people from St Petersburg.

GEORGIA: Georgia, Montenegro Dicuss Visa-free Regime

Georgia and Montenegro will start talks on a visa-free regime between the two countries according to Georgia's Foreign Ministry.

Georgia's Foreign Minister Tamara Beruchashvili met with representatives of the Montenegro government during her visit to Montenegro to attend the annual 2BS FORUM on June 4-6 in Budva.

Beruchashvili announced that during the talks with her colleague Montenegro voiced support to the idea of a possible visa-free regime between the two countries in the future.

She also noticed that the issue of free trade would be also decided after a political decision on visa-free regime under bilateral cooperation is made.

Beruchashvili highlighted the fact that Montenegro has a visa free-regime with the EU since 2009.

SERBIA: Air Serbia Is Double The Size Of Its Predecessor Jat Airways

At the end of last year, Air Serbia received the Route of the Week Award in recognition of the airline’s launch of services between its hub in Belgrade and Zagreb in Croatia. Dane Kondić, CEO, Air Serbia commented on the award win by saying: “This award is highly symbolic for us, as it recognises the importance of the Belgrade-Zagreb route from the perspective of an international industry expert and for this we are thankful.” Currently, the link between the two cities is the carrier’s 12th largest route.

After its first full year of operations in 2014, Air Serbia recorded a net profit of €2.7 million, while total revenue increased by 87% to €262 million, and passenger traffic grew 68% to 2.3 million. During 2014 the carrier also introduced eight new A319s and two A320s into its fleet, and refurbished five existing ATRs. Formerly called Jat Airways from 2001-2013, and Yugoslav Airlines before that, Air Serbia was born when the former agreed a strategic partnership with Etihad Airways and the Government of the Republic of Serbia on 1 August 2013 as a direct result of the then ailing carrier trying to find economic support. Etihad signed a five-year contract for management of the newly founded airline, in which the MEB3 carrier would obtain a 49% equity share of the now Air Serbia. The aim of the new carrier is to become a regional leader, and to resume its place among the world’s best airlines.

Air Serbia is twice as big as Jat
Over the past 12 months, Air Serbia has only recorded a growth in capacity of 1.6% based on OAG data. However, between 2013 and 2014 for the same time period analysed, the carrier grew by 48% meaning that over the past two years, the financial support of Etihad has helped the airline double in size in relation to its predecessor, Jat Airways. Overall, Air Serbia has nearly a five times bigger operation than Serbia’s second largest carrier Wizz Air, whereas two years ago, the then Jat Airways was only 1.8 times bigger. The result demonstrates just how much of an effect Etihad’s financial support has had in making sure that Air Serbia has reached its aim of becoming the regional leader in Serbia.

Zurich zooms to #1 position
With a total of nearly 8,500 monthly seats on offer from Belgrade, services to Zurich have become the number one route for Air Serbia, helped by Paris CDG, which was number one last year, seeing a decrease in capacity of nearly 13% which is approximately just over 1,000 seats. Of the top 12 routes, the number one for growth was Ljubljana which now has an extra 1,700 seats a month according to OAG Schedules Analyser data. Overall, Air Serbia’s capacity is up 1.6% when compared to the same time period of last year, with Zagreb being the only new route.

Budapest and Larnaca services to end
Despite a major turnaround and rebrand, it’s still not enough to make services to Budapest and Larnaca financially viable, with both routes ending on 25 October. In a statement about the cancellation of both routes, Dane Kondić, Air Serbia CEO, commented: “Air Serbia continuously evaluates its network to ensure it is in line with passenger demand and is commercially sustainable. These decisions will enable us to place greater focus on key areas of the business that demonstrate the strongest potential for sustained long-term growth”. Services to Budapest launched on 30 March last year, while Larnaca operations were inherited from Jat Airways’ network, where it had been a main feature for more than a decade.

Croatia is the best performing market for growth
After recording growth in seat capacity of nearly 55%, Croatia is the best performing country market for Air Serbia in relation to growth this October. The only country market to see a growth close to this percentage is Albania. The 25th most popular country market for the airline from Serbia has recorded a growth over the past 12 months of 54%. At the other end of the spectrum, the worst performing country markets for growth are Macedonia and Romania, both of which are down 65% and 73% respectively. The only two country markets which see over 10,000 seats a month on offer from Serbia are Germany and Montenegro. Last year Greece, which then was also the second most popular country market, was also served by 10,000 plus seats per month based on OAG Schedules Analyser data. However by witnessing a nearly 14% decline in seat capacity, the country market with Serbia is only served by 9,600 seats.

Services to Budapest, which launched on 30 March 2013, will cease to operate after 25 October. The short 303-kilometre service was operated daily using the carrier’s 62-seat ATR 72-200s. The airline Belavia will continue to operate services between the Hungarian capital and Belgrade according to OAG Schedules Analyser data.