Entrepreneurs, however, are sceptical, as their costs are higher than last year and there are fewer major events this year that would attract large numbers of foreign visitors.

Looking at the results at the start of the year, tourism developers are optimistic; summer has begun well and more tourists wish to travel beyond Tallinn.

"In the first five months we had 2.32 million visitors in Estonia's accommodation establishments, hotels, and of these 1.3 million were foreign visitors, which is eight percent more than last year. May showed good growth, so I believe the summer numbers will be good," said Orvika Reilend, head of tourism at EIS.

Compared with previous years, the number of tourists arriving from Poland and Latvia has increased this year. To the delight of tourism promoters, more visitors wish to travel outside the capital, especially those who have come from farther away, such as the United States or the United Kingdom. They also stay longer.

Depending on origin, tourists' interests differ.

"Latvians visit Pärnu a lot, and the islands; Germans want to see scenic nature. Depending on the market, the preferences differ, but Estonia's nature, bog hikes and sauna culture are very popular," said Reilend.

On Sunday, Tallinn's Old Town was full of people, but restaurant owners said this is deceptive — once a cruise ship leaves the harbour, the streets empty.

"Those who come into town rest their feet, take water, want to use the toilet, and some take a pint of beer, someone has a bit of coffee or tea and eats a little, but for hotels this is zero, because they come and in the evening they are back on the ship," said Vello Leitham, owner of Kehrwieder café.

Despite this summer being much more pleasant weather‑wise, businesses have not done better.

"Compared with last year, we are all weaker. Our goal now is to reach last year's result, despite wages rising, taxes increasing and input costs going up," said Leitham.

The same is confirmed by a hotel chain manager.

"Estonia has very little growth compared with the rest of Europe, and there are reasons for that. A big difference is major events that took place in Tallinn last year; compared with this year, those events are not happening or not at the same scale," said Tauri Sumberg, board member of Legend Hotels.

Sumberg stressed that Estonia needs better flight connections to develop tourism, but tourists say Estonia is not too expensive and the climate is pleasant.

"Beautiful! I would like to stay overnight, but we can't. We have to return to our ship. We arrived only an hour ago, we are looking at some churches, visiting different shops. It is very beautiful here," said tourists Mindy and Andy from Florida.

"Compared with Helsinki, prices here are more affordable. Restaurant food is a bit cheaper in Korea than in Estonia and Finland, but still very good and high‑quality," said Jinyoung Lee, a tourist from South Korea.

"In other European countries it has become so hot that my friends are now looking more toward Estonia and the Nordic countries, because summer here is much nicer and more pleasant," said Dirk, a tourist from Germany.

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