Market News

Turkey is predicted to receive over 3 million Russians in 2010. During the 9 months of 2010, 2,996,000 Russians visited Turkey, which is 16% more than in 2009 according to the ATOR analytical service. Over the past few years Turkey has become an all year round destination for Russians, popular not only for leisure but also for the MICE segment.

Finland forecasts up to one million Russian tourists have visited Finland by the end of 2010, with majority of visitors coming from the NW of Russia, particularly from St Petersburg, where Finland is only accessible in 3 hours. 700,000 Finnish visas were issued in St-Petersburg, which is 30% more than in 2009, and 150,000 in Moscow, according to the Finnish Embassy Statistic. Further increases are expected in 2011 due to the introduction of a  the new high speed train from St-Petersburg to Helsinki.

Israel will have 6 million Euro promotional budget for the Russian market in 2011, with 3 million Euro being spent on advertising and another 3 million on supporting and joint promotion campaigns with the Russian tour operators. In 2009, over 400,000 Russians visited Israel, and a 48% increase is expected for 201 - 570,000 arrivals from Russia. Today Israel is accessible from Russia by 56 flights a week to Tel Aviv and 8 flights a week to Eilat by Aeroflot, Transaero, Vim Avia, Israir and El-Аl. The new flights are planned to be added from Kursk, Briansk and Novosibirsk. As of February 2011, visa requirement for Ukrainians will be removed, as they were for Russians in 2008, which is expected to trigger a large increase in traffic from the Ukraine in 2011.

In 2010, the leisure traffic from Russia to Greece increased by 52%. The Greek Ministry of Tourism and Culture in Moscow forecasts total arrivals from Russia for 2010 at 350,000, compared to 216,000 arrivals from Russia in 2009. To facilitate travel demand from the Russian regions, Greece will open visa centers in Samara, Kazan and Krasnoyarsk. In addition, Greece is planning to have a visa consultant in 3-4 additional cities, so the visa decision can be taken on the spot and visa issuing process can be speeded up. At the moment, Greek visa centers operate in Moscow, St-Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg and Rostov-on-Don. At present, the main source markets for Greece are the UK and Germany, where over a million tourists visit annually from each country but Russia is an important and fast developing market for Greece.

In the 9 months of 2010 Spain registered 555,000 arrivals from Russia, with 528,000 of them being for leisure purposes, according to Tour Espana. This is 41% increase on 2009 figures. By the end of 2010, Spain predicts that up to 600,000 Russian tourists will have visited Spain in 2010. And if the market continues to grow at the same speed, Russian arrivals should reach 1 million in 2 years. 2011 will be the Year of Spain in Russia.

According to the Austrian Tourism Office (ANTO), Russians made over a million overnight stays in Austria in 2010, and the arrivals from Russia to Austria increased by 15%. In certain months of 2010 such as April, June and August, arrivals were 30%-40% higher than in the same periods of 2009. At present, 70% of Russians visit Austria during winter, so in 2011 ANTO would like to increase traffic during the summer months by positioning itself as a summer destination.

Switzerland expected the total number of overnights from Russia for 2010 to reach 500,000. According to the Switzerland NTO in Moscow, during every month of 2010 the arrivals from Russia increased by 10% compared to last year, and by 21% during the summer. Following the growing demand, from January 2011 Swiss Air, will launch 3 more flights from Moscow to Geneva for the winter season. Also Vim Avia will run a charter programme from Moscow to Basel, twice a week during the weekend of the winter period.

According to the interviews with over 400 travel agencies, by Tourism Hot Line magazine, the Top 3 destinations for skiing trips for Russians are Austria, Italy and Andorra. The others are: France, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Finland and Turkey. According to the survey, more travelers in this segment tend to book their tours online and use agencies only to obtain some information or advise. The main tour operators selling ski tours to the above mentioned destinations, are the following:

Austria: Ascent Travel & Pac Group
Italy: Pac Group & Ascent Travel
Andorra: Natalie Tours & Vremia Tour
France: Pac Group & Jet Travel
Bulgaria: Solvex
Switzerland: Jet Travel & Ascent Travel

One of the Top Russian tour operators, Pegas Touristik will start selling Italy in 2011. Pegas will focus on Sardinia and Sicily, offering package tours with charter flights not only from Moscow and St-Petersburg, but also from some key regional cities. Pegas is one of the top 10 tour operators in the Russian market, mainly selling mass market packages, so several industry experts are surprised at their move into the Italian markets of Sicily and Sardinia, as these destinations are considered to be quite high-end for the Russian mass market.

Natalie Tours, which is among Top 5 Russian TO's, will start operations in Ukraine from 2011. It’s been operating in Russia since 1992 and in Belarus since 2007. The Head of Ukrainian office is Vladimir Gavrish, who previously headed Nord Travel Ukraine. For the first year of work in Ukraine, Natalie will be focusing on Spain, Cyprus and the UAE, targeting to send up to 300,000 Ukrainian tourists to these destinations.