Latvia, Legislation, Tourism

Two of the reported cases of tourists being swindled took place in June; six criminal procedures were launched in May, after receiving a note from Finland.

In May and in June, the Riga Regional Police Administration, in cooperation with the State Revenue Service, the Food and Veterinary Service, the Customer Consumer Rights Protection Center, and the Fire and Rescue Service, carried out 16 inspections at night clubs and bars in Riga. After establishing breaches, licenses to sell alcoholic drinks were annulled in three bars – "Lord Pub", "Puzzle", and "Temple". In all the clubs and bars inspected, police established various violations of regulations – administrative breaches, violations of fire and safety rules, illegal alcohol storage, etc.

The police has drawn up recommendations for immediate action that needs to be taken when encountering situations of companies swindling tourists. Various police structural units have developed close cooperation investigating breaches committed against foreign tourists.

Furthermore, a special task force has been formed, with its officers departing for the place of incident immediately after receiving information about suspected tourist scams in clubs, pubs, and bars in Riga. Also, the Riga Regional Police Administration had developed a plan of action to fight ripping-off tourists.

As reported, after a meeting with President Valdis Zatlers on June 3, several ministers and police chiefs pledged to take vigorous action to stop the scams in Riga as well as introduce stricter regulations and close down the clubs where tourists are swindled out of their money.

Present at meeting were Interior Minister Linda Murniece (New Era), Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins (People's Party), Economy Minister Artis Kampars (New Era), Mayor of Riga Janis Birks (For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK), Prosecutor General Janis Maizitis, State Police Chief Valdis Voins, Riga Municipal Police Chief Janis Gedusevs, and State Criminal Police Riga Region Administartion Chief Ints Kuzis.

Participants in the discussion resolved to come up with proposals to introduce new legislation and regulations that would allow closing clubs that defraud tourists.

According to Murniece, there are eight such clubs in downtown Riga. The minister added that closing down these clubs will also serve as a warning to other entertainment establishments that could potentially attempt to cheat travelers to Riga.

The officials also confirmed readiness to take action to investigate tourist scam cases and to organize surveillance of the suspected clubs.

Sandra Kukule, advisor to the president in legal matters, informed media representatives that the current situation regarding the clubs that swindle tourists is puzzling. Everybody knows which are the clubs in question, yet not enough is being done to solve the problem.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy said that it welcomes and appreciates President Zatlers’ initiative to organize today's meeting with ministers, law enforcement, and other responsible officials regarding plans to ensure the safety of foreign visitors to Riga.

''This meeting is a positive step, and we welcome the commitment to outline concrete action in a period of two weeks. Ensuring the safety and welfare of American citizens visiting and living in Latvia is a top priority for the embassy, and the government's continued attention to this issue will send the message that Riga and Latvia remain welcoming destinations for foreign tourists and investors essential to economic development,'' the statement said.

As reported, due to increasingly frequent cases of swindling and even physical abuse of tourists reported recently, Zatlers turned to the responsible officials with a request to develop an action plan to ensure safety of foreign nationals in Riga.

Zatlers said that he is concerned about state and municipal institutions' inability to ensure foreign tourists' safety in Riga well enough and also about the damaging effect such cases have on Latvia's image.