Another successful year for the Balttour: people flooded to the 2025 trade fair to get their travel deals and learn more about new destinations

The 31st International Travel Industry Trade Fair/Show Balttour 2025 at the Ķīpsala Expo Centre concluded on 9 February. Visitors were very keen to learn more about local tourist attractions, routes and outdoor adventures, get good international travel deals, enjoy various culinary treats and exciting events. Everyone was really happy to see each other.

The largest Baltic travel industry trade fair Balttour 2025 attracted 310 companies from 27 countries. Over the course of three days, the exhibition was visited by more than 20 000 people, including 5 000 travel industry professionals.

Balttour put a spotlight on current trends in the travel industry and was also used by professionals to extend their networks in person. For experts Balttour is a platform where they can see their colleagues and discuss emerging trends. For travel enthusiasts trade fair is a great way to find their travel agent, receive personalised advice and best ways to prepare for and plan a trip. Direct communication makes Balttour a popular place for new business relationships and inspiration.

“Balttour is quickly becoming a strategic networking platform that allows industry players deepen their cooperation, discuss new projects and find new partners. This is apparent if you study the visitor profiles – there is a massive representation of industry professionals, which creates a dynamic and productive environment that leads to new ideas and collaborations. Balttour continues to shift towards more professional and business-oriented focus. What you can see here is targeted not only at the customers. It also aims to attract business partners,” Ēriks Lingebērziņš, President of the Association of Latvian Travel Agents and Operators (ALTA), underlines.

Visitors entering the Expo Centre were immediately greeted by the Riga International Airport RIX, which brought extensive information about airport services to Balttour, as well as special deals like security fast-track service RIX Fast Track vouchers and RIX Club membership programme.

Leading Latvian travel operators and agencies like Tez Tour, Novatours, Nikos Travel, Interlux Travel, Alsvets, Estravel and numerous others offered Balttour visitors new travel packages to places such China, Brazil, Calabria, India, Gambia and many other exciting destinations.

“Balttour has yet again shown that people love to travel and there are plenty of opportunities to do it. Three-day trade fair brought the spirit of adventure to expo centre’s pavilions as people gathered around exhibitors to discover and buy journeys to popular and exotic destinations around the world. From summits of European mountains to warm southern regions – there was plenty to choose from for all kinds of travellers,” Gints Ozoliņš, Director of Balttour, explains.

New destinations and inspiring options
One of the Balttour’s new destinations, Calabria, which is believed to be the crown jewel of southern Italy, attracted huge interest of visitors from the start – everyone admired is unique natural assets, culinary choices and luxury resorts. India’s national stand offered a nice mix of country’s rich cultural heritage and diverse travel routes. Meanwhile, China, which had the biggest display at the Balttour, entertained visitors with various culture performances, such as the traditional Lion Dance, martial arts shows and other delightful activities that offered a more profound taste of country’s deep culture and history.
Tatras was definitely the favourite among winter sport fans who were looking for downhill options, whereas Georgian booth attracted those who wanted to experience the cuisine and traditions of this warm-hearted country. Moldovan stand offered wine tasting and information about the largest underground network of wine cellars in the world to get serious interest from sommeliers and travellers alike.

Baltic vacation choices
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia pleasantly surprised everyone with diverse SPA and wellness options – from relaxing time on the beach to mineral water treatments for healing. Visitors had access to information and special offers from resorts like Hotel Jūrmala Spa, Baltic Beach Hotel & Spa, Eglės sanatorija, Värska Spa, Fra Mare Thalasso Spa and many more. Moreover, nature enthusiasts were offered extensive information about new nature trails, viewing platforms and outdoor adventure trips, whereas those who like to learn more about culture were introduced to variety of historic manors, castles and museums. There were, of course, also special food journeys with different culinary tourism routes from the Baltics and opportunity to taste produce of local artisan and home farmers.

Traveller stories
Trade show and fair, as usual, had also extensive programme of numerous events. Travellers and adventure seekers performed of the Balttour Main Stage with their travel stories to inspire audience to new adventures and discoveries. The long list of story-tellers included advertising professional Ēriks Stendzenieks, TV personality Kristīne Garklāva, travel professional Juris Smaļinskis, publicist Sarmīte Kolāte, director of travel news portal Aivars Mackevičs, producer of Travelling without borders tv show Ivars Cīrulis.

Tourism Professional of the Year
Tourism Professional of the Year is the award traditionally presented during the Balttour trade fair and show. This year, the award for the major contribution to development of hospitality industry was presented to owner of Gemoss Ieva Treija, and after a longer absence Company/Manager of the Year in Transport returned and was won by CEO of Sixt Baltics and Finland Arnis Jaudzems. Company/Manager of the Year in Accommodation went to Monika Centrum Hotel general manager Ruslans Jamčinskis, and Jūlija Rimļina, COB of Atlantic Travel, was celebrated as the best manager of travel agency or operator. Category for the best head of tourism information centre was won by Inese Turkupole-Zilpure, who manages the Bauska Regional Tourism Information Centre, and Rita Auziņa, COB of Lido, was recognised the best Company/Manager in Catering. This year’s award had six categories in total. Award has been presented to 131 tourism professional since its first ceremony during the Balttour 2004 travel industry trade fair/show.

Professional events
During this year’s Balttour, matchmaking event that took place at the Ķīpsala Expo Centre targeted travel companies that work with incoming flow of travellers, with even greater focus on new business relations and closer cooperation between professionals. The event organised by the Association of Latvian Travel Agents and Operators (ALTA), national carrier airBaltic and Latvian Investment and Development Agency attracted a record number of participants in 2025. More than 40 foreign travel operators decided to join the event to learn more about tourism in Latvia, unlocking new potential cooperations and business partnerships.
Industry professionals could also attend other events during three days that Balttour was open. For example, they could go to Digital Hospitality 2025 organised by Digital Content Agency Notre or conference “Tourism in the Baltics: development trends and perspectives in the context of global challenges” organised by Turība University, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences and Association of Latvian Travel Agents and Operators (ALTA).

See you at the Balttour 2026!
The next, 32nd edition of the international travel industry trade fair/show, Balttour 2026 will take place at the Ķīpsala International Expo Centre on 6-8 February 2026.

Balttour is a trade fair and show organised by Association of Latvian Travel Agents and Operators (ALTA) with support of BT 1 International Expo Company.
Trade fair/show webpage: www.balttour.lv. You also follow us on social media: www.facebook.com/balttour and www.instagram.com/balttour/