Market News

Easy visas for the Russians

From 2012, a number of destinations have cancelled or simplified their visa regime for Russian tourists. Guatemala will cancel visas while Bulgaria will accept valid Schengen Visas for up to 3 months stay. Croatia, which will join the EU in 2013, plans to remain visa free until November 2012, while the UK has started issuing longer multi-entry visas for the Russians for 2, 5 and even 10 years, although the standard period is still 6 months. Russian arrivals to the UK were 170,000 in 2010, and jumped to 200,000 from Jan-Sept in 2011, a growth of 19%.

In Asia, India will introduce visas on arrival for the Russians, Ukrainians and Kazakhs while Japan is about to sign a mutual agreement with Russia to simplifying the visa regulations for single entry visas for business people. And finally, Guam will remove visa requirements for Russians visiting this island in the western Pacific Ocean. Another Mariana island, Saipan, which is visa free, is popular with the tourists from the Russian Far East, making Russians one of the main source markets.

More Russians to Cuba

In 2011, Russian arrivals to Cuba increased by 40%, reaching over 70,000, compared to 56,000 in 2010. One of the reasons for such high growth rates are the increasing no. of direct flights, which include 5 flights a week by Aeroflot, a twice weekly flight with Transaero both from Moscow, Transaero also flies from St-Petersburg. Cuba expects up to 90,000 Russian visitors in 2012.

ATH has become part of American Express travel partner network

Andrews Travel House, one of the leading business travel agents in Russia, is to become part of the American Express international partner network. It will now operate under American Express ATH Business Travel Solutions in their offices in Moscow, St-Petersburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. ATH has been in the market for more than 15 years and provides travel management to over 200 international and Russian companies.