Riga, the Republic of Latvia’s largest city and capital, currently hosts the majority of the country’s meetings and events business.
The city, which is the largest in the Baltic states with a population of 700,000, has been described as the Paris of the North and the Window to the West.
“Latvia has a multi-layered history with strong historical connections to Germany, Sweden, Polish, Imperial Russia as well as formerly being part of the USSR,” the Marketing and Communications Director of Meet Riga, Aigars Smiltans, tells CMW.
“No European country has such a diverse history. In just a short visit to Riga and Latvia, organisers can easily identify all these influences and use them to enrich their conferences.”
An economic and building boom at the start of the 20th century made Riga into a leading Art Nouveau city with a plethora of unique and historical venues open to events. These include the Great Guild House, which is currently used as the residence for the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. One of the oldest public buildings in the Baltic States, the venue offers the oldest meeting space in the city (Muenster Hall, dated 1130) as well as a modern concert hall for conferences of up to 670 delegates.
The austere Riga Latvian Society House’s largest hall, which was fully-restored in 2008 and used during the 2006 NATO Summit, fits 700 delegates for conferences, evening receptions and concerts with a stage and balcony.
Radisson Blu has a stronghold in the city offering the majority of four- and three-star rooms in its four hotels within walking distance of each other, as well as the largest convention centre in the Baltics at the Radission Blu Latvija. The hotel offers 15 meeting rooms for up to 1,000 delegates and 571 bedrooms, including 38 Business Class rooms. It has a Skyline Bar with cocktails and panoramic views and has a five-star spa, ESPA Riga.
“Within the next two years we will see the opening of a Sheraton and Kempinski hotel with several refurbished independents,” says Smiltans. “These openings will bring an additional 1,000 bedrooms and a reasonable number of new conference halls for up to 250 delegates. With these, Riga will have competitive advantage over other Baltic states.”
In terms of smaller meetings, the Neiburgs Hotel offers cosy event spaces including dedicated meetings rooms and a library for up to 50. Hotel Bergs, a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, offers 38 apartments and its glass conference hall offers a great view of Riga for up to 120 delegates.
The compactness of the city, with its airport within 10 miles and UNESCO World Heritage listed city centre based on one side of the Daugava River, means the city is walkable for delegates.
In terms of access, the national airline AirBaltic offers direct flights to 60 destinations such as the Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain, Hungary, Italy, the UK and Croatia. It also serves Scandinavia, Russia, the CIS and Middle East and transported 3m passengers in 2012.
Riga offers an Art Nouveau meeting destination suited for small- to mid-sized conferences. As Smiltans says: “We only started to promote Riga as a meetings destination since 2002 so the city is still relatively unknown and a fresh meetings opportunity.”
This was first published in Issue 71/2013 of CMW. Any comments? Email cmw@mashmedia.net
