Riga Reports Mixed Recovery in Tourism and Strong Investment Inflow in 2025

Riga is making strides in its post-pandemic recovery, with the city's tourism and investment agency reporting a significant investment inflow of 1.072 billion euros in 2025, a figure that could create over 5,000 new jobs. However, the city's tourism sector has not yet fully bounced back, with the number of visitors reaching only 82% of pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.

The Riga Investment and Tourism Agency, led by Fredis Bikovs since January 2022, presented its 2025 financial report to the city government. The agency's budget was supported by a base allocation and revenues from the municipal tourism tax, which totaled 4,082,938 euros, along with income from paid services such as guide certification worth 29,687 euros. The agency ended the year with a balance of 758,271 euros, which has been incorporated into the 2026 budget.

In terms of tourism, the city hosted 1,525,076 guests in hotels and other accommodation in 2025, a 6.9% increase from the previous year. Domestic tourism remained strong, with Latvian citizens accounting for 21.3% of all visitors and their numbers rising by 11.5% compared to 2024. Among international visitors, Germans remained a significant group at 9.1%, while tourists from the United Kingdom saw a notable increase to 8.4%. The number of Italian visitors grew by 16.7% year-on-year. However, arrivals from neighboring Lithuania and Estonia declined slightly, representing 10.2% and 9.9% of the total, respectively.

The agency's marketing efforts included a digital campaign under the "Europe Untold" project, targeting the U.S. market through social media platforms such as Meta, TikTok, and YouTube. The campaign, funded by the European Travel Commission, reached an estimated 4.7 million people in New York alone. This contributed to a 7.3% increase in American tourists visiting Riga and a 9.4% rise in hotel overnight stays from the U.S.

The city also benefited from the tourism tax, which generated 1.9 million euros in 2025, up from 1.7 million euros the previous year.

On the investment front, the inflow of 1.072 billion euros is expected to create 5,060 new jobs across sectors including global business services, information technology, manufacturing, real estate, and startups. Specific successes include attracting companies such as Epson (Japan), Efferon (Germany), and Bronyx (Ukraine), which together are set to create over 450 new jobs in Riga.

Despite these achievements, the agency's report acknowledged that the ongoing war in Ukraine continues to negatively affect the investment and tourism climate in Latvia and Riga. The city remains below pre-pandemic tourism levels and faces geopolitical uncertainties that temper the pace of recovery.