[IMG=22164-8048]On February 6th the Day of London was held in the Bristish Embassy in Moscow. The event was organized by Visit London in cooperation with VisitBritain. The first part of the event was devoted to the work shop where representatives of 16 London companies (hotels, incoming companies and related businesses) met with Russian tour operators. Tatiana Khoreshok, Head of the Moscow Office of VisitBritain observed that “such meetings are very fruitful and effective for further cooperation”. After the formal part the guest were invited to the “gin-party” where they could continue the discussion of business issues in less official atmosphere.
Meanwhile, issues that generated the greatest interest among the participants were the following. Firstly, Russian travel market players were primarily concerned about further cooperation with BMI Airline Company that has recently entered the Russian market. Representatives of Russian travel industry were queuing to ask Denis Zyuzin, Head of Sales Department of BMI Moscow Office, whether BMI will sell block of seats on their flight to Russian tour operating companies. “At the moment we are hardly interested in such a project. Our Airbuses have only 107 in the economy class that does not allow us to allocate blocks of seats for travel companies. But we can offer discount tariffs for groups. Moreover, we are in demand among individual clients’, explained Zyuzin in the interview to a BANKO correspondent’.
Secondly, the issue regarding individuals traveling to London was discussed. Some tour operators pointed out the current tendency: London is becoming more and more popular among individual clients traveling either on business or for pleasure. Thus, Tatiana Pirozhek, Head of British Department of Holiday M, commented as follows: ‘at present we are changing our priorities towards individual tours’. Meanwhile, other participants of the meeting observed that economy-class group tours to London are still in demand in the Russian market. ‘we have many tourists who choose excursion tours to London, they want to see the city’, said Ekaterina Karachun, Development Manager of Meridian Express. Some hoteliers including Richard Farrar, Sales Director of Park Plaza 4* supported her opinion.
Furthermore, Mr. John Makin, HM Consul of the British Embassy, said that starting from August 2007 the Embassy will require biometrical data of tourists. He did not comment on the procedure in detail: ‘I think that it will be clear in three-four months’.
