2,000 More Hotel Rooms For Tallinn

The number of hotel rooms in the Estonian capital Tallinn is set to increase by approximately 2,000 from the present 5,300 by the year 2008, as several new big hotels are being built, the daily Aripaev reported.

"Right now there are 5,300 hotel rooms in Tallinn, two years from now we could be having circa 7,000," said Donald Visnapuu, manager of the Estonian Association of Hotels and Restaurants.

Visnapuu said the present number of hotel rooms was sufficient for low season but there was a shortage of accommodation in summer.

"Tourists mostly come here during the summer, and then demand is high and accommodation is in short supply," Visnapuu said.

Over the next two years, four hotels with around 200 rooms each are to be completed in the capital along with several smaller hotels. Builders and developers are having no fears of setbacks or that there would be not enough customers for all the hotels, the paper said.

Annely Hendrikson, sales manager at Sokos Viru Hotel, meanwhile said there was no acute need for new hotels in Tallinn as rooms were available in existing hotels even during summer months with the exception of a few days when all hotels were sold out.

"Usually our hotels aren't sold out in summer, even though that's what some people say. It may be a problem finding rooms for a larger group but for the ordinary tourist rooms are always available," Hendrikson told the newspaper.