Russia makes bid to woo Indian vacationers to counter western sanctions

Sanction-hit Russia is making an aggressive bid to woo Indian travellers to go to its key cities.

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Its high two cities, particularly Moscow and St. Petersburg, have despatched tourism delegations to an ongoing commerce occasion referred to as OTM to onboard a lot of journey brokers to promote tour packages and woo Indians.

“During pandemic the tourist flow had dropped significantly. For St Petersburg, it dropped 72%. In that period, internal tourism witnessed a significant growth. Now, we can see the urge of Indians to visit our destinations,” stated Kuzenskaya Julia, deputy chairman, Committee for Tourism Development, St. Petersburg.
She stated Indians can have hassle-free journey to St. Petersburg and the transaction [payment] points  have been being resolved and “discussed at the highest level.” Despite the conflict, she stated, “absolutely there is no threat to tourists and everything is very peaceful.”

She stated, “We are trying a lot to attract people from Asian destinations and we have seen more and more people have started coming in from India. We know that Asian markets have huge potential,” she added.

Moscow City Tourism Committee has put up a stall at OTM demonstrating its tourism and MICE potential. The Moscow delegation is holding talks with members of journey commerce and showcasing locations earlier than Mumbai movie producers. 

Alina Arutyunova, Deputy Chairman, Moscow City Tourism Committee, stated she had come to Mumbai to additional strengthen the connection with India.

“Now, more Indians are traveling to Moscow and there is no problem in payments. We are focused on India and Saudi Arabia to attract tourists,” she stated.

One of the drivers for development is the visa coverage of Russia. In September President Vladimir Putin supported the initiative to introduce visa-free regime for teams of international vacationers, she added. 

Besides, the e-visa utility shall be made obtainable for 52 international locations and India is enlisted too. “It is a simplified procedure for submitting documents online,” she additional added.

Sanjiv Agarwal, chairman & CEO, Fairfest Media Ltd., the organisers of OTM stated a number of conventional outbound locations like Europe and America weren’t doing properly as they have been unable to course of the specified numbers of visa on account of workers crunch at their Embassies.

“This has created unique opportunities for some of the non- traditional destinations like Russia to fill the gap. Very few Indians, about a lakh [as compared to 50 lakh to U.K. and 15 lakh to small European countries] were going to Russia in pre-pandemic time. Now, not many westerners are going to Russia, they are now needing Indians,” he stated.

“So, they have come in full force and now Indians are getting Russian visa easily. Since Russians are not getting visa to the western world, they would now come to India,” he added.

Jyoti Mayal, president, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) stated platforms like OTM would make the enterprise come again put up pandemic. 

“This is the need of the hour. It is time to reconnect with every one and also to re-collaborate with them. Right now India is a big source market because China is blocked. India has huge opportunity as all are wooing us. But, it is the right time for us to woo them because our inbound should be very strong,” she stated. 

“We had an opportunity many years ago to be largest hub of travel and tourism. But we lost to Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. This is the right time for India to get back and become the largest travel hub,” she added.  

Qatar Tourism can also be attracting Indians. “We always believe that India is a key source market for Qatar. In the coming months, we will have the Football World Cup and will receive a large number of Indians. From 2023 Qatar will be ready with infrastructure for leisure point of view,” stated Sandeep Shevale, Regional Manager, Qatar Tourism.