BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Panorama City planned to open in Tallinn in 2014

The real estate development company E.L.L. Kinnisvara is planning to open a new shopping and entertainment centre Panorama City in spring of 2014, writes LETA/National Broadcasting.

The new establishment is planned to be erected between Tallinn City Centre and Lasnamäe district.

The approximate cost of the development is nearly a hundred million euros. The shopping centre is to extend to 77,000 square metres, 57,000 square metres of which will be lease space. According to plans, there would be nearly 200 different stores in the centre and 2,000 parking spaces.

According to the CEO of E.L.L. Kinnisvara Aldo Dapon, more than 55 per cent of the lease contracts have been concluded or are being concluded. The anchor lessee of Panorama City will be Rimi with a hypermarket store of nearly 7,300 square metres.

Another key partner of the shopping centre will be Apranga Group, the leading Baltic fashion merchandise company of Lithuanian origin. Apranga Group will open a total of up to 14 stores representing internationally renowned brands with the total area of nearly 4,800 square metres.

Tallinn's hotels expect a record summer in 2012

The larger hotels of Tallinn hope to post sales records in summer 2012, while some hotels have increased their prices by around 10% in a year, LETA/Postimees writes.

"While we thought in 2010, when the average occupancy rate of July was 95%, that it would be hard to increase that percentage, then last year the July average was 97.3% and now it seems that this record will also be broken this year," Viru Hotel communications manager Peep Ehasalu said.

The newspaper received a lot of similar answers when it asked from managers of hotels in Tallinn about forecast of the coming months. For example hotel Olümpia sales manager Vitali Makejev said that already they have 15-20 days this summer when the hotel's occupancy rate is above 90%.

The events planned in Tallinn for this summer also help hotels to achieve higher occupancy rates, the most popular of them being concerts of Lady Gaga and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Hotel Park Inn manager Kaido Ojaperv said that this summer for example the 43rd international physics Olympiad takes place in Estonia, with nearly 1,000 participants and in July the Tallinn Cup 2012 takes place.

Tourists have to take into account though that the hotels in Tallinn ask by 10-15% higher prices this year as compared to last year.

Juhan Tere

Estonia's water bodies among healthiest in Europe

A study released last week at the European Water Conference in Brussels showed that Estonia's rivers, lakes and coastal waters are among the healthiest in the EU.

The assessment of water bodies and water catchment areas indicated that slightly more than 70 percent of Estonia's water bodies are in good natural condition, Ministry of the Environment spokeswoman Brita Merisalu told news.err.ee.

The situation was found to be gravest in Belgium and the Netherlands, where estimates suggest that there are no water bodies that are in good natural condition

The study was based on data submitted in 2010 and focused primarily on ecological quality indicators such as aquatic flora, fish fauna and nutrient conditions in the water. It looked at rivers with basins larger than 10 square kilometers and lakes with a surface area greater than 50 hectares.

What sets Estonia's water bodies apart is that they are wild, undisturbed and extremely susceptible to any kind of pollution, which small water bodies cannot tolerate.

Immigration and emigration in Estonia increased in 2011

TALLINN - Figures from Statistics Estonia show that 6,214 people moved out of the country last year - 920 more compared to the year before. Meanwhile immigration figures increased by 899 and reached 3,709, Estonian Public Broadcasting writes.

Similarly to previous years, more women were leaving the country, while more men moving in, the data show.

The vast majority of Estonian residents to leave the country last year, 3,600, were headed for Finland. The second most popular destination was the United Kingdom, which received over 700 people from Estonia last year - a figure over two times higher than in 2010.

The majority of immigrants to Estonia came from Russia and Finland, each bringing in about 1,200 residents last year. Another 200 each came from the United States and Ukraine.

Internal migration figures remained stable in 2011, increasing by only 3 percent compared to 2010. In total, 38,544 people changed their place of residence between counties, cities and municipalities in Estonia. 

The migration figures are based on data from the Population Registry.

Half of Estonia men work overtime

Half of males employed and a third of females employed work overtime, according to “Time Use of the Population of Estonia”, a publication of Statistics Estonia.

In the Time Use Survey 2010, the actual working hours of employed persons were surveyed during one week.

The results of the survey show that 26% of employees worked for 35–40 hours a week, which could be regarded as standard full-time work. 42% of employed persons worked more and 32% less than that.

On the average men worked three hours and six minutes longer a week than women.

Partly the reason is that women are more likely to have part-time jobs, also it is usually women who stay at home to care for sick family members.

Employees with primary and basic education spent on average 3 hours and 20 minutes more per week on work than employees with higher education.
The working week was longer in agriculture, trade, hotels and restaurants, and in transport and construction activities.

Enterprise Estonia suspected of biased public procurement

Competitors claim that the recent public tender announced by Enterprise Estonia to buy high-speed printers is designed to ensure that the contract goes to Overall, official distributor of Canon products, writes Äripäev.

The tender’s fiercest critic is Kalev Kalma who distributes Konica Minolta printers.

Kalma says that according to tender requirements, the printers must run on Uniflow software, have a Canon MEAP license and an Estonian-language control panel.

“These can be offered only by Overall that sells Canon products,” says Kalma.

Also local distributors of Xerox and Kulbert Kyocera agree that the tender requirements leave no room for competitors.
They say that since the winner is already known, there is no point in wasting time and do not plan to bid for the contract.

Kalma says that they have already asked Enterprise Estonia to give up the requirement of having the Uniflow system in the printer, but the proposal was rejected.

“I understand that the state spent a lot of money in the past buying Uniflow license and is not willing to replace it yet,” he adds.

Cinema attendance in Estonia set the record in 2011

According to Statistics Estonia, there were over 2.3 million cinema visits in 2011, which is the highest level of the last 19 years.

The cinema attendance was higher last in 1992, when there were 3.4 million cinema visits. Compared to 2010, the number of cinema visits increased by over 200,000 in 2011.

A total of 301 films were shown in the cinemas of Estonia in 2011. Most of them were imported from the United States of America and European countries (143 and 110 films, respectively). During the last years the share of the US films has decreased and the share of European films has increased.

40 Estonian films were shown in cinemas, which is also a record of the last two decades. The attendance of the Estonian films was over 236,000 persons, which is a tenth of the total number of cinema attendance. The most popular Estonian films were “Lotte and the Moonstone Secret”, “Kormorans”, “Idiot” and “Rattrap”. “Lotte and the Moonstone Secret” with 64,000 visits was on the remarkable sixth position with regard to the attendance chart of Estonian film distributors.

The average cinema ticket price, which had fallen slightly in 2010 in relation to opening several new cinemas, being 3.6 euros, increased again in 2011. The average cinema ticket cost 4.1 euros in 2011.

In 2011, 13 Estonian-made full length films were released, of which some were co-productions with foreign partners. Eight of them were feature films, four long documentaries and after several years there was released one full length animation in Estonia. In 2011, a total of 187 films were released in Estonia, of which 154 were short films and 33 full length films. The majority of them had their premiere in television.

Kutt Kommel

Two-thirds reject privacy-busting Facebook

Although they pride themselves on being a wired nation, statistics show that only a third of Estonians have registered with the leading social network. For the other two thirds, it is a question of privacy.

Sometime ago, Alar Sikk, the Estonian mountaineer who rose to fame when he climbed Everest, was chatting with Estonian TV celebrity Vahur Kersna, about his expedition to Mount Kazbek [in Georgia]. Sikk remarked that many of the potential participants in the expedition gave up on the project when they learned that the journey would take nine days. For them, the idea of spending that much time away from Facebook was simply unbearable.

Fans of the social network will be very happy to read these lines, and will no doubt conclude that here is yet more evidence that the world is their oyster, that all the hype about the recent IPO was justified, and most importantly that life is simply impossible without Facebook.

Media hype

Estonian writer Andrus Kivirähk has never felt the need to register on Facebook, even though most of his friends, and, of course, his children, have already signed up. “I don’t have the courage to communicate so much on the Internet”, remarks Kivirähk. “I am already very accessible. Everyone has my mobile number and I have several email accounts”. At the same time, Kivirähk points out that he does not necessarily want to have instant access to information on what people are eating.

Abortions rate still high in Estonia in 2011

In 2011, 45.4 legally induced abortions per 100 live births took place in Estonia, which is one of the highest rates in the EU, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

8,654 abortions were registered in Estonia last year: 6,668 were willful abortions and 1,986 were miscarriages.

"The number of abortions has decreased constantly. When in 2010, there were 7,068 induced abortions, last year there were 6,668," said Statistical Office senior statistician Kalev Noorkõiv.

There were 20.6 abortions per 1,000 women in 2011 versus 21.6 in 2010.

The rate of abortions, i.e. number of abortions per live births grew from 44.7 in 2010 to 45.4 in 2011, but the reason was that the number of live births was by 1,000 smaller than a year earlier. "The number of abortions fell but the number of births fell even more," said Noorkõiv.

In 2011, 14,679 people were born in Estonia.

Juhan Tere

Tallinn to ring in Old Town days with high wire act

On Saturday, the annual Tallinn Old Town Days festival will open with a spectacle featuring an 8x10-meter inflatable dragon and high wire cyclists - provided the act receives approval from the National Heritage Board.

A procession that will begin at 12:30 and lead from Freedom Square to Town Hall Square will be followed by an open-air spectacle entitled 'Balthasar and the Dragon of the North' at 13:00 on Town Hall Square, reported Postimees. Co-produced by the XXXI Tallinn Old Town Days and the Tallinn Treff Festival, and directed by Sasha Pepelyaev, the production will feature singers, dancers, vampires, skeletons, and other common medieval figures. The Estonian band Metsatöll will provide the music for the spectacle.

"It is a humorous mix of the tale of the Dragon of the North and the story behind Balthasar Russow's chronicle," explained the festival organizer Anne Velt.

The Dragon of the North is intent on devouring the city of Tallinn. Climbing the walls of the Town Hall and swallowing everything in its way, the Dragon comes across the author of the Livonian Chronicle Balthasar Russow who is marveling at the high wire cyclists descending from the tower of the Town Hall.

Estonia monthly gross wages rise 6.9% yoy

 

Average monthly gross wages and salaries, 1st quarter 2008 – 1st quarter 2012 (euros)

	Year	1st quarter	2nd quarter	3rd quarter	4th quarter
2008	825	788	850	800	838
2009	784	776	813	752	783
2010	792	758	822	759	814
2011		792	857	809	865
2012		847

According to Statistics Estonia, in the 1st quarter of 2012, the average monthly gross wages and salaries were 847 euros and increased by 6.9% compared to the 1st quarter of the previous year.

Compared to the 1st quarter of 2011, the irregular bonuses and premiums per employee grew 20.5% and influenced the growth of the average monthly gross wages and salaries by 0.5 percentage points. The average monthly gross wages and salaries without irregular bonuses and premiums increased 6.4%.

The real wages which took into account the influence of the change in the consumer price index and which shows the purchasing power of wages and salaries, increased 2.4% in the 1st quarter of 2012. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, the real wages increased for the third quarter in succession.

According to the Wages and Salaries Statistics Survey, the number of employees increased by 4.6% compared to the same period of 2011.

The average hourly gross wages and salaries were 5.16 euros and increased by 6.0% compared to the 1st quarter of the previous year.

Compared to the 1st quarter of 2011, the average monthly and hourly gross wages and salaries increased the most in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (12.7% and 15.0%, respectively).

Estonia's Victory Day parade to be the biggest in recent years

TALLINN - The traditional Victory Day parade, which this year takes place in Pärnu will be the biggest in recent years as over 1,500 people will participate, Pärnu Postimees writes.

The Victory Day parade on June 23 is traditionally organized by the voluntary defense organization Defense League and the organization’s members as well as the Defense League School, Defense Forces United Training Facilities cadets, the Baltic Defense College march there.

Defense League PR department junior staff officer Merkle Ott said that this year's event will be special. Besides it being the biggest parade since 1992 when the first one took place, for the first time a marathon takes place. Its start takes place on June 22 at the Estonian soldiers' memorial church in Tori and the memorial fire lit in Tori will be brought to Pärnu from there. One of the aims is to tell the story about the Estonian state that achieved freedom in the War of Independence via ancient marathon running and victory light legend.

The Victory Day parade takes place in a different Estonian town every year. Pärnu has hosted it twice before, in 1995 and 2001. Thus Pärnu will be the only other town besides Tallinn that has organized the parade three times.

Estonia has one of the lowest property taxes in Europe

Estonia is one of the EU nations with the lowest rate of property taxation, new figures from Eurostat show.
 
The organisation revealed that in 2010, just one per cent of the country's total revenues from taxation came from the real estate sector, accounting for €51 million (£41.2 million).
 
According to Eurostat, Estonia utilises recurrent property taxes, rather than generating income from charges on transactions. As a result, the dip in performance of the Estonian real estate market between 2006 and 2009 did not adversely affect the nation's budget.
 
Meanwhile, "recurrent tax revenue held up well and even increased in that period, highlighting the stability of this tax", the statistics body added.
 
Understanding tax obligations when buying a home overseas is important, with marketing manager at Expat Focus Lindsay de Feliz recently stressing investors need to be clear on this point, as well as any laws relating to inheritance or legislation that only applies to foreigners.

50% growth helps Estonia rocket to 41st place in ICCA rankings

Estonia has gained an impressive amount of ground in the newly-released 2011 International Congress and Convention Association rankings list, moving up five slots from the previous year's position to reach 41st place.

The number of association conferences held in the country jumped from 43 to 61 between the two years, an increase of nearly 50%.

The nation's capital, Tallinn, also scored big in the list, going from 65th place to 43rd. The city hosted 49 ICCA conferences last year compared to 28 in 2010.

According to the ECB, the improvements can be attributed to its close cooperation with Enterprise Estonia and the cities of Tallinn and Tartu, introduction of a Conference Ambassador Programme, increased flight connections and improvements made to venues. It also credited Enterprise Estonia's Conference Support Scheme for attracting more international events to the country.

ECB statistics show that there were 565 international conferences held in Estonia last year, their total number of delegates reaching 68,122. The average number of delegates per conference was 120.

The Estonian Convention Bureau is a non-profit organisation established jointly by public and private sector bodies. It was established in March 2008 in order to attract international conventions to Estonia. The bureau's 23 members include the cities of Tallinn and Tartu, the national carrier Estonian Air, and a number of DMCs, PCOs and hotels. It is co-financed by the Estonian Tourist Board, a division of Enterprise Estonia.

Estonia gets its third natural mineral water plant Häädemeeste vesi

Estonian environment minister Keit Pentus will open on Friday the new natural mineral water bottling plant in Häädemeeste, which continues a tradition that ended years ago, LETA/Delfi reports.

The natural mineral water called Häädemeeste vesi comes from Estonia's deepest drilled well with the depth of over 600 metres. Keisri Köök OÜ will start producing the water.

Mineral water was last bottled in Häädemeeste, South West Estonia in 1980s.

For many years, AS Värska Vesi was the only natural mineral water producer in Estonia. However, at the beginning of May, Verska Mineraalvee OÜ, a company that operates in also Värska, South East Estonia, was granted the certificate No 2 of natural mineral water producer and in cooperation with the owner of 20% of the company, A. Le Coq, production and sale of natural mineral water was started.

Juhan Tere

Bicycle parking becomes available in Tallinn

Guarded bicycle parking, free of charge for everyone, will be once again available in downtown Tallinn from May 15 through September 22. 

One of the parking lots will be located on Harju street next to St. Nicholas Church, and another on the Freedom Square near St John’s Church, according to Raepress. 

In addition to the free guarded parking service, cyclists can also have minor repair and maintenance works performed on their two-wheelers such as oiling of the chain and inflating tires. Some of the parking lots will also provide bicycle rental services. 

The Tallinn Municipal Engineering Department has commissioned over 3,000 folding maps to be printed that give an overview of the bicycle tracks in Tallinn and will be distributed to the public throughout the summer season.   

Ingrid Teesalu

Government seeks to modernize social security system

The Praxis Center for Policy Studies has presented the government with a report on the sustainability of the Estonian social security system that focuses mainly on the effect that population aging will have on the system in the future.

According to Praxis analyst and University of Tartu lecturer Andres Võrk, the pension system will be running deficits for years to come, seeing as how long-term balance is sensitive to population aging. As such, it is important to find the appropriate means for maintaining the balance of the pension system.

Based on the analysis, the elderly will soon outnumber the working-age people. Predictions say that the proportion of over 65-year-olds in the population will increase nearly twofold in the next 50 years, from 17 percent to 32 percent, while the ratio of over 65-year-olds to working-age people will grow from 28 percent to 67 percent by 2060.

Housing costs lead jump in inflation

TALLINN - Statistics Estonia data show the change of the consumer price index was 0.3 percent in April 2012 compared to March, and 4.0 percent compared to April of the previous year, reports LETA. Goods were 3.0 percent and services 5.9 percent more expensive compared to April 2011.
Regulated prices of goods and services have risen by 10.9 percent and non-regulated prices by 1.7 percent compared to April of the previous year.

Compared to April 2011, the index was mainly influenced by housing expenditures, which gave almost a half of the total increase. 13.7 percent more expensive motor fuel gave nearly a fifth of the total increase. Compared to April of the previous year, of food products, the price of eggs (45 percent) and smoked and salted fish (14 percent) have increased the most. In April 2012, potatoes were 62 percent and fresh vegetables 20 percent cheaper than a year earlier.

In April the price of eggs reached the highest level of the past years. Looking back at the last five years, the previous peak was in March 2008. After that the prices decreased, then slightly increased in the middle of 2010, then decreased again and remained at a relatively low level with small rises and falls until the beginning of 2012, when a fast price increase began. Compared to the previous peak in March 2008, eggs were 12 percent more expensive in April 2012.

City to retire 22 trolleys

The Tallinn Tram and Trolleybus Company is planning to reduce its fleet of 103 trolleybus by 22 vehicles this year.

The municipal company's chairman, Toomas Sepp, said the move is necessary due to the poor technical condition of some of the trolleys. Ninety-nine trolleys are currently operational, reported Õhtuleht.

The company's board is planning to purchase three new low-floor trolleys, which are accessible for wheelchairs and baby carriages. The cost of each vehicle is around 600,000 to 650,000 euros. A public procurement will be announced this year, the board said.

The City of Tallinn plans to merge the municipal companies responsible for the city's bus, tram and trolley services by September. Currently, Tallinn's buses are operated by one company while trams and trolleys are operated by another.

One of the largest changes resulting from the merger will be a reduced number of trolley routes, which will be replaced with buses.

Ingrid Teesalu

3/4 of population accustomed to Euro

Around a third of the country's population has become accustomed to the euro, adopted in January 2011, a study published today by Swedbank and the Institute of Economic Research finds.

The figure has increased by 11 percent since a similar study was conducted in April 2011.

According to Anne Sägi, manager of private finance at Swedbank, the level of adaption to the euro varied among social groups. For instance, 44 percent of households with a monthly income of less than 400 euros have still not adapted, compared to just 18 percent among families with a monthly income over 1,100 euros.

Around 79 percent of people still sometimes find themselves calculating prices according to kroons, the previous currency.

The portion of people saying that the euro has affected their consumer habits has grown from 42 to 53 percent. The coming of the euro has had the highest effect on low-income households, the elderly, women, and the less educated, according to the survey.

Ingrid Teesalu