Dear Subscriber,
The latest outbound figures from the Russian market show that certain well established markets such as France, Turkey and Germany have all lost business from Russia this summer, however this does not seem to prevent Russian Tour operators from launching ambitious charter programmes to Asia and Latin America this winter. This is largerly and internal war between the leading Tour operators, who are each fighting for their place in this more consolidated but highly competitive market. Even the Russian regions, which have suffered more from the economic crisis than Moscow or St Petersburg, have some ambitious charter programmes, especially Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar.
However the economic down turn is starting to impact on the number of relevant travel exhibitions that can survive in the market, with the government backed InTour Market (ITM) exhibition taking place over the weekend, squeezed between two much better established exhibitions: ITB Berlin and MITT, its long term chances of survival look rather slim. How many Russian Tour operators will also survive this very ambitious and risky winter period is also food for thought, as no one believes there is enough business for everyone.
Best regards,
Helene Lloyd
Director
TMI Consultancy
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