Latvia’s hotel industry is experiencing a crisis, according to this article, and three hotels in Riga have been put up for sale. After Latvia’s accession to the European Union in 2004, the number of hotels in the city and its outer district grew considerably, a trend that accelerated also due to the World Ice Hockey Championships in 2005. Last year, 5.234 million foreigners crossed Latvia’s border. But in the first quarter of 2008, the number of tourists in Latvia decreased y-o-y for the first time since 2004. At the end of 2007, 400 places of accommodation were available in Latvia. Meanwhile, eight new hotels have been unveiled in Riga so far this year, for example, the Reval Hotel Elizabete and the Nordic Hotel Bellevue. The Atlantija Hotel, which first opened in the Soviet period, will be auctioned off in October. These days the building resembels nothing more than a run-down hostel. It is also possible that the 3-star, 68-room Bruninieks Hotel will be sold too.