Tickets for the 2008 Song and Dance Festival in Latvia will range from LVL 1 to LVL 25, organizers have announced. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the ticket prices Feb. 26.

Admission to festival concerts will range from LVL 3 to LVL 25 based on the program, venue size and demand for tickets, festival organizers said. Tickets for dress rehearsals will cost just LVL 1.

The festival is scheduled July 5-12 in various venues around Rīga. The grand final concert, scheduled July 12 at the open-air stage in Mežaparks, will see tickets prices of LVL 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20 and 25.

Minister of Culture Helēna Demakova noted that in an effort to keep ticket prices low, the government granted LVL 3.7 million to the festival. Festival organizers also have received about LVL 1 million in support from three companies: Latvijas Krājbanka, Aldaris and Latvijas Mobilais Telefons.

Several events will be free of charge.

Tickets go on sale March 10 and will be availbable through Biļešu paradīze box offices or online at www.bilesuparadize.lv.

For further information about the song and dance festival, visit www.dziesmusvetki2008.lv.

Latvia recorded the third-largest perentage increase in hotel stays in the European Union last year, according to data released Feb. 25 by the Eurostat service.

Even more significant, the country recorded the highest percentage increase in its own residents staying in hotels. A total of 1 million nights were spent in hotels in Latvia by residents last year, up 21.9 percent from the 900,000 nights recorded in 2006, according to Eurostat.

In all, a total of 2.8 million nights were spent last year in Latvian hotels and similar establishments by residents and non-residents. That represented a 9 percent increase over 2006.

Only Poland, with an 11.5 percent increase, and Romania, with 9.1 percent, had higher rates of increase.

Eurostat data show a total of 1.57 billion nights were spent in hotels and other establishments across the 27 member nations of the EU. The highest number of nights spent were in Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The five countries together accounted for more than 70 percent of total.

The data are part of Eurostat’s monitoring of the tourism industry in the EU.

The number of foreign visitors to Latvia last year increased 12.7 percent over 2006, according to data compiled by the Central Statistical Bureau in Rīga. More than 5.2 million foreign visitors entered Latvia last year, compared to 4.6 million last year.

Almost three decades after last hosting one, Milwaukee is organizing the next U.S. Latvian Song and Dance Festival (XIII Vispārējie Latviešu Dziesmu svētki ASV), scheduled July 4-8, 2012.

The nonprofit corporation that will oversee the festival was registered Jan. 23 with the Wisconsin Secretary of State’s Office, public documents show.

A number of preliminary steps have been completed or are underway, Ēriks Krūmiņš, a member of the American Latvian Association board of directors, told Latvians Online in an e-mail.

Some observers in the Latvian diaspora in recent years have expressed doubts about the continued viability of song festivals outside Latvia. Last summer’s festival in Indianapolis ended with a deficit and organizers now are seeking donations to erase it.

Traditionally the location of the next song festival is announced at the conclusion of the last festival. Milwaukee organizers had discussed hosting the festival, but a firm proposal was not available when the Association of Latvian Choirs (Latviešu Koru apvienība) met during the Indianapolis song festival. The association determines the host city. The association decided July 5 that if Milwaukee would not be willing to organize the festival, then another location would have to be found, said Andris Kursietis, chair of the Milwaukee organizing committee.

In the following months, organizers in Minneapolis also proposed that they could host the next festival. Minneapolis has never hosted the song festival, while Milwaukee did so in 1983. Milwaukee also hosted a regional song festival in 1956.

The choir association on Oct. 15 affirmed its decision to make Milwaukee the host city for the next festival.

Three days later, the Milwaukee organizing committee was confirmed, Kursietis said in an e-mail. Besides himself, members include Ernests Brusubārdis III, vice chair and music diretor; Vincents Dindzans, vice chair and information director; and Ildze Rudzīte, folk dance director.

Further details about the Milwaukee festival are expected to be announced soon, Krūmiņš said.

In the meantime, Latvian choirs and folk dancers are preparing for three other festivals coming up this year and next: the Latvian Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration scheduled July 5-12 in Rīga; the West Coast Latvian Song Festival scheduled Aug. 28-Sept. 1 in Ventura, Calif.; and the Latvian Song Festival in Canada planned July 1-5, 2009, in Hamilton, Ontario.