DoT taps the Russian travel market

Outgoing Tourism Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan recently announced that it is tapping the Russian outbound travel market as a potential market niche for the Philippines.

The move is among the Department of Tourism’s (DoT) priorities to increase the country’s tourist arrivals and reach the 2.5 million target for the year.

He will soon appoint a tourism marketing representative for the Russian Federation and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) like Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan. The tourism marketing representative will be holding office at the Philippine embassy in Moscow.

According to DoT statistics office, Russian tourist arrivals from CIS reached 3,945 in 1998; dropped to 2,260 in 1999; 2,487 in 2000; 2,773 in 2001; then bounced back in 2002 and 2003 with 3,562 and 3,068 respectively. The growth was due to the perceived peace and order situation and political stability in the country.

Local tour operators believe that the creation of a sales representative in Moscow is a non-conventional approach to gain competitive advantage from other Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Pagdanganan said, “We plan to get a bigger slice of the Russian travel market by taking advantage of the networking opportunity from the expatriate community in Moscow.”

He also noted that Russians perceive the Philippines as an exotic location and a diving destination in Asia. Russian tourists and divers are particularly looking for luxury destinations.

Figures released by the Russian Journal show that 4.48 million Russian citizens traveled abroad in 2000 and it is expected to occupy 10th place worldwide by the year 2020.

An opinion poll also revealed that Russians are now spending more on travel overseas. The report indicated that Russians are spending $.26 billion on travel, $.25 billion of which is being spent abroad.

The DoT is considering the country’s participation in next month’s Otdykh Leisure Fair in Moscow to establish links with the Russian tourism group. “Likewise, we plan to assist the Philippine embassy in developing their web site in promotion by featuring tour and diving packages,” Pagdanganan added.

The DoT has already prepared diving tour packages in Palawan and Mindoro; exotic tour packages in Davao and Cebu; and a cruise trip to Palawan, Iloilo and Boracay Island.