[2nd Cut] Tallinn — The Consumer’s Baltic Playground

Venla Vuorio (left) takes a break with elder sister Maija in the middle of the road leading to Port of Tallinn’s ferry Terminal A. They were on their way to taking a two-hour ferry ride back to Helsinki.

Finnish tourist Venla Vuorio, 22, came to Tallinn with just a drawstring bag but now leaves with a new trolley stacked with Somersby, Karjala and Happy Joe bottles. She lights up a cigarette, taking a breather from lugging the tower of cartons en route to the ferry terminal. The university student estimates her 150-euro alcohol haul would cost close to 400 euros back home.

“I’m only giving two cartons away and keeping the rest for myself,” Ms Vuorio said with a smile. “It’s summer and it’s the time for all this.”

The tourism industry in Estonia is big business — it contributed 15.4% of the country’s gross domestic product last year and saw tourists spend close to 1.2 billion euros.

The Vuorio sisters are just two of thousands of Nordic tourists in Estonia’s capital city. Each day at the Port of Tallinn, the fifth-busiest in Europe, massive ferries facilitate them streaming in with their cameras — and wallets.

A tourist snaps photos of Tallinn’s iconic Town Hall Square which remains the centrepiece of the old Hanseatic town since the Middle Ages. The towering spire belongs to the Town Hall — one of the oldest surviving Gothic town halls in northern Europe.

The ferries sail across the Baltic Sea mainly from Tallinn’s richer Nordic neighbours, with 8.83 million and 1 million passengers making the journey from Helsinki and Stockholm respectively in 2017.

A limousine drives off an Eckerö Line ferry arriving from Helsinki at Port of Tallinn’s ferry Terminal A. Eckerö Line is one of four main companies servicing the Gulf of Finland route.

Stretching The Euro

For many, basic services and goods cost a fraction of the price back home. From alcohol shopping to getting a haircut, Nordic tourists relish their increased spending power by coming to Estonia.

Finnish pensioner Reijo Kavinen getting a 10-euro haircut in Sada Market near ferry Terminal A. The 59-year-old was in town with his friends and took the chance to hit the hair salon at a bargain compared to 25 to 30 euros in Helsinki.

New university graduate Suvi Vaaramaki, 24, was stocking up with 80 euros of alcohol in Calle’s Wine & Spirits Border Shop. The alcohol for her 30-person graduation party would have cost 200 euros back in Helsinki, said Ms Vaaramaki.

Her 25-year-old boyfriend Severi Tonttila has been to Tallinn three times this summer. “It’s very easy to come, and everything is so cheap,” he said.

Severi Tonttila (left) and Suvi Vaaramaki make their alcohol selections in Nautica Mall, a shopping centre popular with tourists near Tallinn’s ferry terminals.

Tallinn remains a popular stop for Finnish tourists in search of cheap booze despite a 70 per cent tax hike on alcohol by the Estonian government last July.

Clinic staff Anders Svensson, 41, and his 39-year-old partner Tove are a Swedish couple who arrived from Stockholm after a 15-hour journey across the Baltic Sea. Tallinn was a cheap getaway that gave them the anonymity they were looking for.

Anders Svensson (left) gives his partner a peck on the head while waiting for a taxi to their hotel after disembarking at Port of Tallinn’s ferry Terminal D.

“We came here for sex and food,” said Mr Svensson. “We don’t know anyone here, that’s the truth. That’s why we came here.”

They are not alone in a string of pleasure-seeking tourists. Dotted around central Tallinn, strip clubs fight for euro bills in a business where clients can spend tens of thousands in one night.

Golden Dolls Strip Club is one such player in the Old Town with 11 years of experience under its belt.

“Competition is very stiff,” said 30-year-old manager Mr Anton Stepnoi. “The ones who have the best dancers are the ones who will survive and other clubs are adding new types of shows.”

A record 564,280 cruise tourists passed through the Port of Tallinn last year. To accommodate them, Golden Dolls starting operating day shifts last month.

Asian Invasion

This April, the number of Finnish tourists fell 16 per cent year on year. As the number of Finnish tourists declines with the fall in ‘booze cruise’ passengers, the city prepares for a new kind of tourist — from Asia.

Last year, Asians formed 5 per cent of all visitors to Estonia — an all-time high.

Strippers at Golden Dolls wait for the day’s first clients. The strip club began operating 24/7 last month to accommodate cruise tourists who stop in Tallinn during the day.

Finnish tourists still form the bulk of clients at Golden Dolls, but Mr Stepnoi has observed the increase in Asian visitors.

“Asians are quirky and it’s difficult to get them in, but once they come in they stay for long,” said Mr Stepnoi.

The Estonian Tourism Board (ETB) has been anticipating the rise, putting in place initiatives to court this new demographic.

“We have been working on it actively for a couple of years,” said Mr Urmas Orula, ETB’s Tourism Research Project Manager. He added that marketing events for tour-operators from China, Japan and South Korea have been organized in cooperation with other Baltic countries.

“Every year more and more Asian tourists have at least a day-tour to Tallinn as well,” said Mr Orula.

In June, the MSC Orchestra became the first cruise ship with only Asian tourists to dock in Tallinn. Nearly 1,700 tourists from mainly China, Hong Kong and Singapore disembarked during the eight-hour stopover for a quick taste of Tallinn.

Nearby Helsinki is a hub for incoming travel from Asia, and flights from national carrier Finnair have increased to the region after a Finnish-Russian aviation deal secured airspace over Siberia last year. Tallinn has benefited as a convenient stopover point as the Baltic region grows stronger on the radar of Asian tourists.

Seo Jungho (left) and her husband Jo Gyeong (right) soak in the historic Old Town. Behind them are a trio of Estonian teenagers who were dancing to K-pop songs.

At the entrance of Tallinn’s historic Old Town, Korean school teacher Jo Gyeong, 30, and his wife Seo Jungho, 31, had just finished a meal at the famous medieval-themed restaurant Old Hansa. They were on their way to Riga and spent a day in Tallinn’s UNESCO World Heritage Site enjoying local cuisine.

“It’s a lot cheaper and there are many tourists,” said Mr Jo. “It’s not the case for Helsinki. The Old Town here is very nice and I will definitely recommend my friends to come here.”

Chinese tourists stand entertained by a street busker in Tallinn’s Old Town. Last year, 20,000 of them visited Estonia — a fifth more than in 2016.

Locals React

In the summer months, tourists crowd the Old Town’s market bazaars and get their spa fixes in surrounding shopping malls.

A summer market bazaar draws in the crowds in Tallinn’s Town Hall Square, offering a range of handicraft and snacks. Traditional Estonian clothing Rahvariided, or the “clothes of the people” , is also commonly sold.

Despite the strong presence of foreigners in a city only a tenth the size of London, locals do not seem to mind.

Mr Ristisaar haggles with a customer at Terminal A of Tallinn Old City Harbour’s passenger port. There are approximately ten different trishaw companies serving tourists in Tallinn.

Trishaw rider Heiko Ristisaar is one of the 99,500 Estonians contributing to the tourism industry — or 15.3 per cent of jobs. He waits for passengers outside Tallinn’s busy ferry terminals, transporting them to central Tallinn.

Finns make up the bulk of his passengers, and the 26-year-old pockets up to 3,000 euros in a good week. On other days, he makes just enough to cover the daily 30-euro rental for his electric trishaw.

Estonian property consultant Kamberg Kristoden, 21, welcomes tourists. He says that they bring in a much needed economic boost.

“Since I’m an entrepreneur I see it as a good thing for the country. Huge sales mean new money for the economy,” he said. “I feel that it’s only positive because socially, we get to see other people. It’s good for mixing around.”

Keeping The Momentum

Tallinn’s City Council is considering the introduction of a tourist tax to maintain municipal facilities. This move would mirror those taken by nearby Vilnius — which could increase the Lithuanian capital city’s annual budget by up to 2.28 million euros in 2019.

To keep up with the record-breaking 10.5 million passengers hosted in 2017, the Port of Tallinn is further developing its infrastructure as one of the world’s busiest passenger ports

On a Friday evening, passengers wait to board ferries to Stockholm and Helsinki at Port of Tallin’s ferry Terminal D.

A Smart Port system which was launched in 2017 harnesses technology to smoothen traffic and shorten passenger waiting times.

“It will make the passenger journey experience as pleasant and fast as possible,” said marketing specialist Triin Rum from the Port of Tallinn. She added that passenger convenience is a top priority.

The ongoing decline in tourists from Finland — Tallinn’s biggest tourism partner — is not stalling overall growth in the sector.

Last year saw the total number of foreign visitors cross the six-million mark for the first time. This was aided by healthy numbers from countries such as Russia which registered a 14.4 per cent growth rate in 2017 after the rouble’s stabilization.

Ms Rum believes that there is more to Tallinn than cheap booze and remains optimistic about the overall growth in visitors.

She said: “Tallinn is a good tourism destination because there is a lot of culture that attracts tourists as well.”

Going beyond the ferry terminal’s border alcohol stalls, well-preserved sites such as St. Nicholas’ Church and Toompea Castle make up the Tallinn landscape.

As more tourists experience the city’s medieval charm, they might go home with less alcohol cartons — and more of Estonia’s history.