Dear Subscriber,
For anyone in the Travel industry, September is the second most important month for travel exhibitions in Moscow. The up-coming exhibitions are Leisure and Otdykh, which used to be one exhibition but in 2007 split into two competing exhibitions, one is still held in the out of town state of the arts exhibition centre, Crocus City, while the other is in central Moscow organised by ITE (they also manage MITT). This year the travel exhibition organizers have decided to compete with each other directly and both exhibitions will take place simultaneously (Sept 22-25th) this year. As a result, it is quite likely that neither will be particularly successful. However the more targeted National Tourism boards have wisely opted to avoid both expensive options and prefer to use their budgets to organize their own road shows or investing in agents famtrips to improve the knowledge of their destination.
With a reduction in marketing budgets in 2010, National tourism boards are likely to be more cost conscious than in the previous years of high growth. For this reason, we are likely to see a large reduction in the no. of NTO's participating in traditional travel exhibitions and the emergence of more specialist workshops, roadshows and creative promotional activities.
Best regards,
Helene Lloyd
Director
TMI Consultancy
News Flash
Outbound Leisure Tourism from Russia in the first 6 months of 2009
According to the latest statistics from Russian Federal agency for tourism, for the first half of 2009 (January to June), There was a reduction of 22.6% in the no. of Russians travelling abroad for leisure purposes.
TUI searched for further Russian Acquisitions
TUI continues its expansion in the Russian market and is now planning to acquire an incoming tour operator.
Hotel News
Moscow Still the Most Expensive City for Hotels in the World
According to Hogg Robinson Group Survey of world hotel prices, Moscow again tops the charts as the most expensive destination for corporate travellers with the most expensive hotels according to the January - June 2009 figures.
International hotels finally come start opening up in Moscow in larger number
The landmark Hotel "Ukraine" will open in December 2010 as a 5*Radisson Royal, while the former Minsk Hotel located on Tverskaya street in the very center of Moscow will open in September 2010 as a 5* Intercontinental.
Aviation News
More Flight to the Baltic States
As of September 2009, Air Baltic will start direct flights from Riga to Pskov (NW Russia), and since July 2009, Estonian Air started flights from Tallinn to St-Petersburg.
New Flights to Hong Kong and China
From September 16, 2009 Vladivostok Avia, the leading flight carrier for the Russian Far East, will start new flights from Vladivostok and Khabarovsk to Hong Kong through Seoul.
Sky Express Launches Charters for Independent Russian Travelllers
Sky Express, a new generation Russian airline, started daily charter to Istanbul this summer.
Russian Air Traffic Down by 18% in 2009
According to the Federal Aviation Agency, Russia's airline industry lost nearly one fifth of its passenger traffic during the first half of 2009.
Market News
Emergence of the Russian market leaders
The Russian travel sector is experiencing the largest consolidation of the market in recent times, many smaller tour operators are focusing on only their core destinations, while the market leaders are expanding the number of destinations they offer.
Russian Tour Operators Numbers to Shrink by 10-15%
According to the head of the Association of the Russian TO's, Maya Lomidze, the number of Russian Tour operators will reduce by at least 10-15% by October 2009.
Increase in Flights to Thailand for the Winter Season
The leading Tour Operators selling Thailand, plan to increase the no. of flights to Phuket for the winter 2009-2010 season by 1.5 times, and to create up to 6 flights per week.
Demand for Island Up, Bus Tours Down
As the mass-market destinations are loosing 15-30% of demand, the FIT segment remains almost unchanged.
Feature
Regional Markets Overview
Calypso, one of the leading TOs in St-Petersburg stated that it was little decrease in demand for FIT travel this year, but that the length the trip and frequency have reduced.
Economics
Unemployment Finally Impacts on Russia's GDP
The last GDP figures for Russia for the 2nd quarter show a surprise drop of 11%.