Dear Subscriber,
Since November 2008 the Russian Rouble fell in value by 30%, however March has been a more positive month with some recovering and the Rouble regained a small percentage of its value from it lowest point at 36 Doubles to the Dollar back up to 33 Roubles to the Dollar. The stock exchange has also seen some recovery but probably the biggest factor which is protecting the Russian economy against a full blown recession is that consumers are still spending. This feel good factor is partly due to the lack of fear towards the economic decline which is nowhere near as severe as the default in 1998, as a result Russians are still quite positive to their Western European counterparts.
This positive attitude was reflected in the recent travel industry events taking place in Moscow, both the Luxury workshop and the MICE Forum had more attendees than ever and both events had a good attendance. New destinations such as Macau and Japan exhibited at MITT for the first time and many countries increased their stand size. In addition, both the Dominican Republic and Sweden announced that they will open their own tourism offices in Moscow during 2009. Moreover the latest figures showing the top 60 tour operators (see the Feature section), indicates the huge growth achieved by most leading companies during 2008.
Best regards,
Helene Lloyd
Director
TMI Consultancy
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Feature
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