Tallinn is building a brighter future

Despite the political pendulum that shifts the city government’s attention every once in a while, the city has been developing steadily in recent years.

The dilapidated area behind the airport where the machinery giant Dvigatel had its plant in Soviet times will finally get a new look. Construction of a 383 million euro technology park started there in autumn 2005.

The cramped space of the city centre is becoming increasingly filled with tall office buildings, the most prominent being the twin-tower Tornimäe complex which will include a 28-floor Swissotel and a 31-floor residential building. Scheduled to open in 2006 (the hotel will open a year later), the complex will complement the Radisson SAS hotel and the SEB Eesti Ühispank bank building standing nearby in the area that could be called Tallinn’s mini-Wall Street.

The city’s so-called 'sleeping districts’ are catching up on the overall business development. A technology park will soon open in the Lasnamäe district.

The tourist flow, which is ever increasing thanks to more active promotion campaigns in the neighbouring countries, demands new accommodation facilities and sets a higher standard for the existing hotels.

In an attempt to avoid having Tallinn turn into a stag-weekend paradise, several mostly upscale bars and restaurants now have signs on the door reading: “We do not serve stag parties”. As a result, most of the noisy British revellers are sticking to the bars and pubs that are happy to have them, and both the people who don’t like stag parties and the stag-weekend tourists themselves appear to be content with this.

As to the co-operation with neighbours, the idea of bringing Tallinn and the city of Helsinki closer together seems to be alive and kicking. However, it isn’t clear when projects such as the unification of a public transport ticket system will begin. And will anyone get used to the twin-city’s new informal name: Talsinki?