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There's so much more to Riga!
Riga is trying to shake off its image as a stag party paradise. Latvians have made mighty efforts in recent years to attract tourists from the rest of Europe and Riga authorities set out to promote the city's cultural heritage - the medieval city centre is after all a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But what they got was hordes of young men and women on drink and sex binges. Coupled with the rise in cheap flight airlines, Riga became stag and hen party capital as its reputation soared as a short break destination for cheap alcohol and cheap women.
Tourist numbers in Latvia have shot up in the last three or four years with hotels reporting a record turnover. But the guests are not opera loving tourists here to listen to classical music or to wonder at Riga's architectural treats - its medieval streets and art nouveau architecture.
The young tourists tumbling off the cheap flight airliners are mainly interested in beer, sex and clubbing - an in roughly that order. As a result strip bars and lap dancing clubs have mushroomed all over the city.
Drunken behaviour now become a major nuisance. British yobs are harassing women and urinating in the streets. Police have retaliated with drinks being detained in the cells so long they have missed flights home.
Earlier this year even the British embassy in Riga supported a campaign aimed at cracking down on drunken louts. They have funded the printing of posters and beer mats with advice about behaviour - especially not to 'use loud or abusive language'. But the kind of tourists who want to get drunk and buy sex with a Latvian prostitute are not ones who pay much attention to advice on anything but where to have fun.
Some Riga city officials now want the cheap booze bars and strip clubs moved out of the city centre. They say it is the only way to recover its image as a city of culture. That won't be easy given the money that is being made out of supplying drink and sex to stag party revellers. But they may have to bite the bullet or they could see things get much worse.
This article was written for TravelSavvy Europe by Robert Allcock. If you know of an interesting European travel related news story, please get in contact.
