11/08/2019 16:13

Travel Week In Moscow From The European Point Of View

[IMG=21039-6876]During the week of travel exhibitions in Moscow a BANKO correspondent visited several events organized by Tourist Boards of different countries and discovered the following tendencies. Firstly, this year more foreign companies arrived to Moscow with an intention to attract Russian tourists. Moreover, some travel market representatives bank on the Russian market as their main one. Furthermore, according to foreign experts they partly arrived because of the increased competition on their local markets that made it more difficult for them to present their countries without leaving them. Thus, Emil Siminovitch, Managing Director of the London All European Travel, pointed out: ‘at the moment in London there are very many companies doing the same business as we do. Therefore, we have to do our best not to lose. Russians are our main tourists!’. Meanwhile, representatives of the Norwegian region Finnmark believe that the Russian market is ready for less promoted regions. ‘Russia has a great potential’, said Katia Petersen, Head of the Project of the Tourist Office of Finnmark. Secondly, foreign companies are also interested in lower rates for air traffic volume. Thus, British Companies are surprised that there are still no charters operated from Moscow to London. Terry Ellacott, Sales Manager of Hunt&Palmer, emphasized: ‘many times I contacted well-known Russian airline companies trying to interest them in a launch of a charter program to London but got no response. Charter flights could engender the demand for the country’. Norwegians, on the one hand, promote a low-cost Norwegian Air Shuttle instead of charters, on the other hand, they point out the tourist flow from Moscow is not enough for flights to Oslo. At the moment flights to Oslo are operated from St. Petersburg. ‘If Muscovites are interested in lower flights they can fly from St. Petersburg. Alternatively, they can tell us about their attitude towards Moscow-Oslo flights and we will make a decision’, said Christer Berglund, Sales manager of Norwegian. It is interesting that neither British nor Norwegian companies did not mention problems regarding a necessity of permission for flights from Moscow to European cities. Moreover, in the interview with a BANKO correspondent they expressed surprise regarding the issue. Meanwhile, Russian travel market players do not express much enthusiasm towards European initiatives. They believe that it is not the right time to massively attract tourists to not mass-market destinations. Thus, Ella Baranova, Head of Scandinavian Department of PAC Group, laconically said: ‘Russian tourists are not ready for many things yet!’.