Agnese Sturmane, Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia in China: Expecting Tourists to Return to Picturesque Riga After the Pandemic

Recently, Agnese Sturmane, Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia in China received an interview from WTCF. Agnese shared the measures and experience of Latvia in combating COVID-19 and introduced the rich history and unique artistic atmosphere of Riga, a member city of WTCF.

Release time : 2021-01-18 09:56:07

source : WTCF

located in a forest, around 30-minute drive away from the center of Riga. You can experience different sorts of buildings where people used to live back in the day in the rural Latvia. It's particularly wonderful to go there in the weekend, because they have different art and craft fairs and markets. You can purchase local goods, try local beverages and food. If you're lucky to visit during the national holiday, you can also celebrate it with local Latvians. In general, Riga is very attractive. Actually, for most of my Chinese friends who have been to Latvia, our country is one of their favourite places.

WTCF: Many countries are affected by the pandemic severely in this year, especially the tourism industry. So, what are your suggestions on how to overcome the pandemic?

Agnese Sturmane: I believe that every crisis is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there's a lot of threats and industry struggling; while on the other hand, there are also opportunities. For companies in tourism industry, they should firstly ensure the safety of travelers. There are a lot of companies that are making it safer to travel like, for example, offering solutions to flying more safely like offering some walls between passengers. Another thing what our tourism industry can do is go more digital, and go more online. And that's also thing I can see from some destinations that are doing. They're offering virtual tours or virtual experiences to travelers to get more familiar with the places, preparing for the return of tourists after the pandemic. It can also promote later tourism when it will be physically possible again to travel.

WTCF: WTCF is also holding the virtual meetings these days, like WTM on November 11, 2020. What do you think of virtual meetings?

Agnese Sturmane:In some way, virtual meetings are conducive to the development in the future. We have been used to traveling so much to attend conferences. Nowadays, we're understanding that we can