"Both the weather and the diversion of flights (to Kaunas during Vilnius Airport's closure for runway renovation) had an impact. We will see later how this will reflect on the annual results," it quoted Evalda Siskauskiene, president of the Lithuanian Association of Hotels and Restaurants, as saying.
"The capital's hotels in August slightly raised their prices which had fallen due to the flight relocation," she said. "Vilnius' hotels account for as much as 80% of all tourist overnight stays in Lithuania."
Siskauskiene forecasts that the Lithuanian hotel industry's annual revenue growth this year may reach 7 to 10%.
Birute Leimontaite, the sales and marketing head at the Kempinski Hotel Cathedral Square Vilnius, said that a planned VAT increase might be the key challenge in 2018 as it would make Lithuanian hotels less competitive in the region.
