11/08/2019 16:25

Kuoni Is Conquering The Russian Market

[IMG=19885-5643] The Swiss tour operating company Kuoni plans to strengthen its positions in the Russian market. You may recall from earlier News Bulletins that in March 2006 the company extended into the Russian travel market through the Office of the British marketing company TMI in Moscow (news/13.03). The ambitions of the Swiss player towards the Russian market were, in particular, confirmed at the ceremony devoted to 100th Anniversary of Kuoni on May 23rd. Firstly, it is a tradition that Kuoni organizes such events in the countries the company bank on. Secondly, on May 23rd Moscow welcomed the representatives of main Kuoni offices – in Switzerland, England, India, the USA and Africa – who made presentations for Russian tour operators. Some of them concentrated on the concrete figures. Thus, Deepak Sharma, Team Manager-Sales of SITA, pointed out: ‘from October 2005 until April 2006 we welcomed 10, 000 Russian tourists. In the coming season we plan to increase the figure by 30-35%’. Kuoni emphasized they are interested in co-operation with Russian tour operators as the main incoming company. Meanwhile, Russian travel market players do not rush into making a final decision as before they need to ascertain competitiveness of rates offered by Kuoni, as even corporate clients tend to economize on their business trips. ‘As far as I know Kuoni offers good rates for in-country services. But for some destinations the tariffs of our partners are not worse’, commented Maxim Pristavko, Commercial Director of Jet Travel. Moreover, a range of Russian tour operators prefer to have direct contracts with hotels. ‘It depends on the country. For example, in Europe it is more advantageous to work directly with hotels’, explained Tatiana Avilova, Group and Incentive Tourism Department of UTE Megapolus group. Moreover, in order to work closely with Kuoni tour operators have register in the Kuoni on-line booking system, Kobra, access to which requires a 5, 000 Euro deposit to a ‘branding’ bank. ‘The amount of deposit depends on many factors. The deposit guarantees the reliability of our partner. Money is on our bank account until we cooperate, but in case we terminate the contract, we pay a deposit back. We have the same scheme in all the countries we work with’, commented Miroslav Bauer, Vice President Sales Europe & USA. Mr. Bauer also added that it is possible to book in-country services by e-mail, however, the preference will be given to requests via Kobra.