This year, for the first time in history, the oldest tourist operator of Russia, NKT Intourist, has offered its clients a tourist package to Crimea, which includes tickets, comfortable transfer, and accommodation in modern hotels. According to the administration of the company, the offer is very popular among Russian citizens. Victor Topolkaraev, CEO of NKT Intourist, speaks about other tourist programs by his company and the tourist industry of Russia in general.
According to Topolkaraev, today the tourism market is in crisis. “We are seeing a decline in total flow in the foreign market. In the domestic market, we see a growth in tourists. The proportion of the number of trips for tourism purposes by official statistics to the number of the Russian population is about 7-10%. In European countries it ranges from 30-50% and higher. That is, we can see the potential for the growth of outbound tourism in Russia is enormous,” the head of Intourist is sure.
Speaking about development of the internal market, Topolkaraev notes that if we take over the base of the official statistics of 40 million trips, the ratio of this figure to the number of trips of the population is around 35 -40%. If you take internal mass tourism, I think the figures are comparable somewhere, probably 20 million. We have figures again in the area of 17%. In European countries the same indicator is more than 50% in internal tourism. We see that a potential growth of tourism, outbound and domestic, is about 3-5 times bigger. We can see how much additional business volume of more tourist trips we can expect for in the next 5-10 years.”
Topolkaraev is sure that the prospects of development of the internal tourist market are huge in Russia. He turned to the statistics of the previous crises of 1998 and 2008. “The Russian tourist market has a unique ability to restore its volume. If we take the example of the same situation in 2008, the market volume indicators in 2010 exceeded the pre-crisis levels. The Russian tourist market will recover in a maximum of a year and a half. Which actually occurs nowhere else, neither in Europe nor elsewhere. We have significantly strengthened our position and activity in the internal market.”
The head of the tourist company paid attention to the fact that, according to VCIOM social opinion polls, it is the first time in history that the number of holidaymakers in Crimea is comparable with the number of those wishing to rest abroad, 27% of all respondents. Slightly smaller, in the region of 22-24%, is the number of those willing to vacation on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus.
Referring to the question what kind of tourist products are offered by Intourist, Topolkaraev said that the company has focused on Crimea this year: “It is now our primary and main direction of domestic tourism. Of course, we have a program on the Black Sea coast, Abkhazia, but they are simply not comparable in terms. Present are Budget proposals, Economy packages, we call them packages – economy is 15 thousand rubles in the middle of June, you can fly, including flights, including transfers, including accommodation in Crimea. And with prices comparable to a deluxe holiday in Turkey.”
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