30.12.08

The number of Russian tourists abroad dropped by 30-35% this season as compared to the previous year, press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI) Natalia Tyurina said.

"As a rule, alpine ski or exotic tours are unavailable in late December, but everything is different now," she said. "New Year tours sell worst. This is not just a world crisis affair but a trend of the past few years," Tyurina said. "As a rule, New Year tours cost much because of the compulsory New Year party. Thus Russians prefer to see in New Year at home and fly abroad for X-max vacation. Tours will start selling better on January 2," she remarked.

Charter trains to Scandinavian countries, most Finland, are in the biggest demand this year, Tyurina said. People are sick and tired of delayed flights and expensive air tickets, and trains seem to be a good option.

Tours to the Czech Republic also sell well, she said. "This Czech tours is a rather good product by the correlation of price and quality," she said.

In general, European tours are now more popular with Russians than far-away trips, Tyurina said. "European tours are cheaper and the distance is shorter. Our businessmen are particularly unwilling to stay far from home: anything may happen on these turbulent days," she said.

Travel agents offer various kinds of bonuses to their prospective clients. For instance, Israeli and Saudi hotels offer the sixth night for free if a client pays for five nights. Also, they offer a free dinner to those who buy a breakfast.

Travel agents selling Thai tours have to give the biggest discounts. "Almost all the tourists used their tickets to Thailand during the unrest in Bangkok. Paradoxically, the demand dipped when the situation stabilized and Bangkok airports resumed their normal operation. Thus, travel agents have had to cut their prices to minimal.

Now a weeklong tour to Thailand will cost $300 for three-star accommodation, $400 for four-star accommodation and $500 for five-star accommodation. Meanwhile, the ticket alone costs $900. No wonder such tours sell well," Tyurina said.

In general, Russian citizens have cut their tourism expenditures, Tyurina told Itar-Tass in late November. Yet she is far from dramatizing the current situation on the tourism market.

"The crisis not only cuts the number of tourists, which is only natural, but also changes tourism routes," she said. At the same time, some trends of the tourism market are incomprehensible. Russians more eagerly buy tours to ski resorts of the Alps than to cheaper Bulgarian ski resorts. "Everyone - travel agents and prospective tourists - is into the wait-and-see policy at present," Tyurina said. "Travel agents expect the demand to grow, while tourists expect tour prices to go down."

Travel agents try to meet expectations of their clients and cut prices on certain tours by 20-30%. A travel agent focused on Egypt has cut the price by 49%, while agents selling tours to Bulgaria offer free visas. Travel agents are reducing their personnel and workspace and closing down excessive offices in Moscow and regions.

The demand for VIP tours has gone down as well. "It is not only the matter of VIP tours' cost. It is just that businessmen do not want to go far and leave their business unattended," Tyurina said.

Circulating assets are the travel industry backbone. Travel agents are due to repay winter season expenditures in late January or early February, but some of them have not repaid expenditures of the summer season that appeared to be unprofitable. The crisis crushed their hopes for New Year tours, Tyurina said.

"Changes on the travel industry market will become obvious by spring - some will pass the crisis test, while others will have to fall out of business," she remarked.

The Russian Union of Travel Industry defines itself as a first-rate union of the industry including more than 900 enterprises of travel activity, accommodation establishments, sanatoria-resort complexes, transport, insurance, consulting companies, educational institutions, regional associations, institutions of tourism government, mass-media.

According to the union's website, the organization was founded on the 25 of July 1993 and up to 2002 it has been called "Russian Association of Travel Agencies" (RATA). The Association was transformed into the Russian Union of Travel Industry at the RATA 8th congress.

The RUTI as a non-profit-making organization defends corporative interests of its members and rights of serving clients. The main purpose of the RUTI is the creation of a civilized tourism market in the country and assistance in the development of domestic travel industry on the federal and regional levels.

The RUTI structure includes 14 regional departments, representatives in the United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, United States, Canada, Spain, Mexico, also committees and commissions on domestic tourism, inbound tourism, youth and children tourism, bus, air-transport, sanatoria-resort, and others.

The union is engaged in tourism lawmaking. Union experts helped draft a federal law "On Fundamentals of Tourism Activity in the Russian Federation" adopted in 1996. The union helps elaborate other bills and federal and regional tourism programs, as well as assists to the settlement of conflict situations in tourism, draws investments in tourism infrastructure and promotes Russian travel products on internal and external markets.

Meanwhile, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has announced a decline on the world tourism market. Recession that started on real estate and automobile markets has spread onto tourism, and the world tourism market growth may amount to 2% in 2008 and be close to zero in 2009, the organization said.

UN Assistant Secretary General Geoffrey Lipman said that the travel industry was passing through one of the most difficult periods in its entire history. The organization is concerned over prospects for next year and does not forecast a growth in the first half of 2009.

Last year's growth of 6.6% went beyond UNWTO expectations - 903 million people were traveling. The indicator stood at 3.7% in the first eight months of 2008.

In the opinion of experts, the tourism market will be the first to respond when business activity regains strength. Thus, UNWTO is optimistic about long-term future and counts on 1.6 billion tourists in 2020.

Lipman believes that people will not stop traveling but will prefer low-budget companies, short-distance travels and cut the period of their vacation.

The economic slowdown has hit worst the Asia-Pacific region, which had sustainable tourism growth of 7% for nearly 18 months. The rate dropped to 2% by August 2008. Africa had the tourism growth of 3.2%, and Europe's growth was 1.7% as against 5% per annum in the past two years.

Other destinations have a better position; the weaker dollar enlarged tourism by 9.5% in the United States in 2008. The popularity of the Middle East has grown by 17.3%.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations and the leading international organization in the field of tourism. It serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and a practical source of tourism know-how.

UNWTO plays a central and decisive role in promoting the development of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism, paying particular attention to the interests of developing countries.

The Organization encourages the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, with a view to ensuring that member countries, tourist destinations and businesses maximize the positive economic, social and cultural effects of tourism and fully reap its benefits, while minimizing its negative social and environmental impacts.

Its membership includes 160 countries and territories and more than 350 Affiliate Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities.

Direct actions that strengthen and support the efforts of National Tourism Administrations are carried out by UNWTO's regional representatives (Africa, the Americas, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and South Asia) based at the Headquarters in Madrid.

UNWTO is committed to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, geared toward reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development.

UNWTO launches its new long-term research program UNWTO Future Vision: Tourism Towards 2030. The study will forecast international tourism growth through the year 2030 and identify key actual and future trends and their impact on tourism development. It will combine industry data with the views of UNWTO members, tourism practitioners, trends experts and academics around the world. This initiative will update the previous Tourism 2020 Vision, which has become the definitive global reference on the future of tourism.

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Source: Itar-Tass