“Intourmarket” participants spoke about tourist cashback for trips to the Far East and multimodal rail transportation, the launch of charters to Kamchatka and prospects for a cruise vacation in the Kuriles
Moscow hosted the main industry event dedicated to Russian domestic tourism - the XVII International Tourism Exhibition "Intourmarket-2022". In the exhibition space of Expocentre, the delegation of each region of Russia presented its stand, where they presented the flair and originality of their native land. Recreation in the Russian Far East and Arctic in the summer of 2022 was given special attention both at the plenary session and at the separate panel discussion “The Far East and Arctic: New Travel Opportunities. Summer 2022”. The meeting was organized by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic and Far East and Arctic Development Corporation.
Representatives of the tourism industry, industry associations and development institutions discussed new proposals and directions for travelers for the upcoming summer season, how to promote the Far Eastern and Arctic tourism products in modern conditions effectively, what additional measures to support citizens and businesses are needed to create and maintain sustainable demand.
“Today, the prospects for domestic tourism in the regions of Far East and Arctic are of particular importance. It is necessary to unite the efforts of the state, business and public organizations and create conditions for Russians to come to the volcanoes of Kamchatka, to the Buryat shore of Lake Baikal, to plunge into one of the picturesque bays of Primorye, to try the Far Eastern scallop right on the aqua farm. Experience emotions that they will remember for a lifetime. New programs and mechanisms have already been developed: this is the national project "Tourism and Hospitality Industry", and the state program "Tourist Cashback" to provide subsidies to travelers up to 20% of the cost of a trip around Russia. By order of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, the possibility of doubling the tourist cashback for traveling in the Far East up to 40% is being discussed. Subsidies are also available to operators organizing tourist charter flights to Russian regions,” said Maria Badmatsyrenova, Deputy Director of the Law Enforcement Monitoring Department of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation.
Badmatsyrenova noted that the tourism sector was one of leaders in terms of the number of new investment projects being implemented in the Far Eastern Federal District and Russian Arctic. Residents of the Advanced Special Economic Zone (ASEZ), the Free Port Vladivostok (FPV) and Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) create more than 250 tourism projects for a total of 189 billion rubles.
Elena Rakova, Deputy Head of the Passenger Transportation Department of JSC Russian Railways, said that in 2021-2022, the company offers new programs for tourists in the Far East and Arctic.
“Standards and regulations have been developed, the rail transportation schedule has been approved with weekend, weekly and event tours. Multimodal transportations have been launched. There are about 30 routes across the country, which involve modern rolling stock and comfortable carriages equipped with family compartments. When developing tours, we take into account many criteria, such as interest, schedule, availability, and economic component. It is preceded by personal visits to points of attraction for tourist flows. Not so long ago we visited the Amur Region, Vostochny cosmodrome, gold mines, where the mining process is being shown,” the expert said, noting that sightseeing takes place with the participation of local tour operators, carriers, and authorities.
The unified Far Eastern airline "Aurora", which was created by order of the President of Russia, is now forming a single network that will include more than 500 regular intra-regional and inter-regional routes. The main task is to make flights on the routes of Far East and Arctic safe, regular, convenient and economical.
“We are primarily focusing on the social transportation, transport accessibility and mobility of the inhabitants of the Far East, including those who live in remote settlements that can only be reached by small aircrafts, these are more than 380 settlements. We pay attention to convenient connections so that residents of the Far East do not need to fly to Moscow in order, for example, to get to another region of the district. And another important task for us is to make the route network available in sales and during booking procedure. Aurora Airlines has entered into code-sharing agreements with five companies that provide services to passengers who have bought tickets for the airline's flights,” said Dmitry Lysak, Deputy Administrative Director of Aurora Airlines JSC.
Every year federal tour operators form tours on the territory of the Russian East and North more and more actively. Alexander Sirchenko, Deputy General Director for Government Relations and Communications of the tour operator FUN & SUN, shared how the work on organizing charter programs is built on the example of Sakhalin, Buryatia and Murmansk.
“Last year, our company served about 1.9 million tourists, of which less than one percent accounted for charter flights. It is known that 60-70 percent of the tour package to the Far East is occupied by the cost of air travel, which does not allow planning a stable tourist flow in advance. Therefore, we actively promoted the decision to subsidize charter flights around the country, and now it is available to Russian tour operators, the mechanism is already working. We launched charter programs in seven directions, and this made it possible to reduce the cost of the tourist product by 2-2.5 times compared to regular flights. For most of the programs, we are able to achieve 100 percent utilization. We are developing new routes from St. Petersburg to Tyumen, the resorts of Caucasus, we will soon launch Kazan and fly to Kamchatka in the summer,” Sirchenko specified.
The opportunity to travel to the eastern part of Russia is provided not only by rail and air carriers.
Evgenia Trufanova, Deputy General Director of Vodokhod LLC, shared her experience in the formation of a popular tourist product using water transport. She spoke about cruise routes along Baikal and Yenisei. Tours on the lake are served by modern all-weather hovercraft capable of speeds of 91 km per hour. And along the river, tourists are transported on a modernized comfortable motor ship "Maxim Gorky" with a gym and a spa center. The length of the route is about 2 thousand km, and it passes through three climatic zones. The ship is equipped with high-speed boats, which allows tourists to disembark on an unequipped shore. The regions are informed of the dates of ship calls a year in advance, which allows local entrepreneurs to develop their business and adapt to the needs of travelers, to open new cafes and souvenir points.
“Tourists want to discover Russia for themselves, so it is necessary to take into account the issues of transport accessibility, and the creation of convenient routes on the ground, and cheaper tickets, and an increase in the level of service,” highlighted Evgenia Trufanova.
CEO and founder of Russia Discovery, head of the adventure tourism commission of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Vadim Mamontov identified several of the most promising destinations for cruise tourism, including the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, the Sea of Okhotsk with the Shantar Islands, Chukotka, Yakutia, the Putorana Plateau, Novaya Zemlya and Polar Circle. According to the speaker, it is necessary to pay attention to the creation of glamping sites on these territories, boat cruises and significant objects in the parking lots that could serve as magnets for tourists.
Leonid Gelibterman, President of the International Center for Enogastronomia, Member of the Board of the Russian Union of the Travel Industry and Chairman of the Gastrotourism Committee, believes that when attracting tourists, it is necessary to rely on the Far Eastern, Arctic, Pacific and the cuisines of the small peoples of the North, while observing the recipes of dishes based on local products and adapting them to modern requirements. At the same time, he noted the role of Primorsky Krai, which is actively involved in creating a brand of Far Eastern cuisine. Problematic for the Far East, the chairman of the PCT committee on gastronomic tourism considers the issues of service and personnel for work in gastronomic tourism, as well as the promotion of regions.
Oksana Gradova, General Director of Baikal Residence, is sure that "service is possible anywhere in the world, the main thing is to do it and believe in it yourself." Eco-hotel, located in Severobaikalsk, on the shores of Lake Baikal, according to the World Luxury Hotel Awards and Prime Traveler Awards is the best country hotel in the world in the Luxury segment.
President of the National Union of the Hospitality Industry, Advisor to the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Infrastructure Development, member of the Expert Council under the State Duma Committee on Tourism Alexei Volkov spoke about the creation of a new structure and its functions. The council included leading experts of the country's tourism industry, heads of industry and public associations, representatives of organizations and enterprises of the hospitality industry, tour operators and scientific and educational community, who will provide analytical, expert, information and consulting support for legislative activities.
“A lot of work is planned, including in the Far East and Arctic. But the most important measure of support is what you do. You bring the initiative, implement it, promote standards, open up Russia for travel,” Alexey Volkov summed up.