Market News

  • Both Russian and Turkish stats showed a 10% drop in arrivals from Russia in Q 1, 2012. However, in absolute figures, the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry estimated that 317,500 Russian tourists visited the country during January-March 2012, and that the Rosstat figures do not reflect all arrivals, which showed a total of 154,000 total arrivals, 92,000 of those being leisure visitors. According to the Turkish figures, Russia was 5th source market in Q 1, with the leader being Germany (also with a decrease of arrivals).

  • On a press conference on June 15th, one of the top 10 Russian tour operators, Youzhny Krest (South Cross) announced a strategic partnership with an Austrian partner, Meinl Bank. The Bank purchased 50% of TO’s stocks, and provided a credit of 1 billion RUB for business development. As a result, Youzhny Krest will add Austria to the list of destinations on offer, as well as the USA and the Caribbean. Greece, China, the Dominican rep. and Bali will also remain among the priority destinations. Among other big plans for this season is opening representative offices of Youzhny Krest in all key Russian cities.

  • Despite the decrease in the number during the first quarter of 2012, Anex Tour, one of the leading players for the Turkish market, expect traffic from Russia and the CIS, to show positive growth rates of 5-10% in 2012. This is based on an increase of 17% of early booking to Turkey. The peak period for Russians to go to Turkey is from June to August. In 2011, over 50% of Anex’s customers booked 5* hotels.

  • Swiss holding company Hotelplan confirmed that it had sold off its share of a Russian tour operator Ascent Travel. The price of the deal was not revealed but the shares were bought by a Russian investor. Hotel Plan previously owned 51% of Ascent from 2007, but announced their decision to sell it in March 2012.

  • TUI Travel announced an operating loss of £13 million from its business in Russia and Ukraine for the six months of the current financial year (starting in October 2011). The main reason for this was the unrest in Egypt which affected TUI’s business Russian business negatively. TUI’s main competitor, Thomas Cook, also reported  £10.5 million of operating loss in Russia, also due to the drop in sales of package to Egypt, as well as to Thailand (due to the winter flooding).

  • Over 28,000 Russians visited Cuba in Q1, 2012, which is 25% increase on last year. According to the forecasts of the Russian Embassy in Cuba, up to 100,000 Russians may visit the country by the end of 2012. Russian tour operators selling Cuba also expect a high growth, mainly due to the increased no. of direct flights by Aeroflot and Transaero. Another reason for the popularity of both Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican Republic is the all inclusive system offered by many hotels which is popular with Russian tourists.

  • In April, the Spanish Consulate in Moscow issued over 64,000 visas, a 42% increase on April last year. In March 2012, the increase was 30% (38,000 visas). The most popular destinations in Spain for the Russians  are Catalonia and the Canary Islands. 70% of Russians book their trip to the Spanish coast with a tour operator. The average length of stay for Russians in Spain is 10 - 15 days. According to Tourism Catalonia, the average spend of Russians in the region is up to €1500 per trip.

  • Finland expects one million visas to be issued in St-Petersburg in 2012. According to the Finnish Foreign Ministry, their Consulate in St-Petersburg receives 6,000 visa applications daily. Norway also expects an increase in visitors to Russia and is facilitating this by opening visa center in key cities across Russia. By the end of 2012, Russians will be able to apply for a Norwegian visa in 15 cities, including Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Samara, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Krasnoyarsk, Sochi, Kaliningrad, Irkutsk and Ufa, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.

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