Summer's business generally sets the tone for the whole year's results in the sector, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

Külli Kraner, CEO of the Estonian Hotel and Restaurant Association, said: "We are cautiously optimistic exactly because the first five months have shown a slight rise in demand. However, average prices are on a downward trend, and that is the worry, since input costs, taxes, and other such factors have increased."

An even larger number than usual of concerts and events are set to take place in Tallinn this coming summer, with big names such as Kylie Minogue, Justin Timberlake and AC/DC appearing. This could translate into the black for hotel operators.

For the traveler booking accommodation during the summer season, as usual they must expect to pay a premium: At least double the regular price, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

"Usually, this is certainly up to double the price compared with the off-season, and especially when demand is higher, prices get higher too, so the earlier you make a booking, the better the price you can get," Kraner went on.

For instance, bookings during the Song and Dance Festival July 3–6, will cost €230 for one night in a double room at the Hotel Shnelli, a mid-range hotel close to the Balti jaam train station. In comparison, the following weekend the same room would cost €147 for one night, as things stand.

Even then, for the hotels, a visitor-rich summer alone is not enough to maintain a hotel profitably.

Kaisa Mailend, CEO of the Hestia hotel group, said that those few hot summer days in Estonia, say as many as a dozen of them, can't lift them out of a downturn; "They do help ease things, but definitely won't bring us to profitable results," Mailend said.

Hestia hotels saw a slight upturn in overnighting guests in May compared with January to April this year, she continued.

According to Mailend, this year's overall results still depend on how the summer goes in any case, and on this, she was pessimistic. "The year 2025 will likely be worse than last year. May showed a positive trend, but the first four months had been quite bleak. The deficit has been more or less the same as last year," she said. "Now everything depends on how the summer goes."

Even though numbers have just about recovered to pre-pandemic levels, i.e. those seen six years ago, even this is not sufficient on its own, as 2019's prices won't bring in as much profit once soaring input costs are factored in.

"While we are now approaching 2019 levels in terms of tourist numbers, then actually these are not very strong growth figures. We have had to rise from a very low trough, and if we look at our pricing policy, just as the tourist numbers are at 2019 levels, so are the prices," she added.

Estonia's main song and dance festival (Laulupidu) only takes place once every five years, or with a six-year gap this time around, due to the pandemic putting back plans.

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