Redefine leisure & luxury
The annual OTDYKH Travel Market, also known as Luxury Leisure Moscow, is Russia’s leading travel and tourism event held from September 15-18, 2015. OTDYKH stands for leisure and luxury, and is the perfect start for the upcoming winter season on the Russia
Since 1995, OTDYKH is a must attend event for travel professionals, a platform for negotiations and signing contracts for the coming winter season. OTDYKH combines all sectors of the tourism value chain: Leisure travel, Business travel and MICE, Luxury travel, Medical and Health Travel, Travel Technology.
The Luxury Leisure Moscow 2014 was held on 22,000 sq.m of exhibition area with 1,236 exhibitors from 94 countries and russian regions.As many as 150 business programme events were held over 68,000 visits within 4 exhibition days. Among the 94 countries which participated in the exhibition are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Qatar and Ras Al Khaimah.
The 21st International Trade Fair for Travel & Tourism is the leading International Autumn Trade Fair for leisure travel in Russia and CIS countries. The exhibition is fully supported by all relevant Russian and international governmental bodies, associations and private companies. Leisure Moscow offers the best time and the best place to negotiate with Russian partners about winter programmes and to pre-sell summer packages.
Welcoming exhibitors at LLM, Oleg Safonov, Head, Russian Federal Agency for Tourism says today the Russian travel industry is experiencing a turning point: witnessing the changes in the market structure and in the tourists’ priorities. "The domestic tourist flow is growing as well. We have fixed an increase in travelling within the country by 30 per cent comparing to the previous year, and these figures exceed the plans for 2018," he says.
The Russian Federal Agency for Tourism has developed a new marketing strategy — “Visit Russia”, which is based on the public and pri- vate partnership. “This year we are going to run several projects, including opening Russian tourist offices abroad and launching the national web-portal—Russia. travel. We continue to create new tourism clusters, to invest in infrastructure development in the regions within the federal target programme of the tourism development in Russia,” says Safonov.
He adds that the large business platforms like “OTDYKH” exhibition are their partners and allies. “For two decades, OTDYKH International Russian Travel Market has been an essential event for the industry. The exhibition’s business programme is held in different formats, and takes into account the interests of all visitor categories.The show’s scale and the exhibitor composition demonstrate the growing role of tourism in people’s lives,” he adds.
The 11th International Trade Fair for Luxury Travel-OTDYKH Luxury- is Russia’s leading event when it comes to exclusive resorts and hotels, fine spa destinations and luxury cruises and yachts. International and Russian luxury travel suppliers exhibit
This year we are going to run several projects, including opening Russian tourist offices abroad & launching the national web-portal Russia. travel We are underlining our association with Russia’s leading international trade fair by showcasing our diverse selection of properties Al Raha Beach Hotel is well-established in the Russian market with 10 years’ experience and working with most of the major tour operators
their impressive offers on global first-class travel to interested trade visitors and direct customers. Every year more and more Russians are looking for luxury and exclusivity. This year's focus lies on Gourmet & Wine Travel. Food and Wine tourism has seen a growing demand in recent years. Now it is one of the most dynamic segments within the tourism market. The highlight of the section is an area of cooking master classes. It is a unique opportunity for countries and tour operators to present destinations through the best of their national authentic cuisine. In 2014 master classes were shown by Uzbekistan, Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Mexico, China, Slovakia, Thailand, Serbia, Japan, Italy, UAE and Serbia.
Philippe Zuber, Chief Operating Officer, Emaar Hospitality Group, states that The Address Hotels + Resorts, the flagship hotel brand of Emaar Hospitality Group, will participate in this year’s Luxury Leisure Moscow exhibition.“The event offers us the platform to present the differentials of our brand. Through our participation, we are underlining our association with Russia’s leading international trade fair by showcasing our diverse selection of properties, which will further drive and cement our ambitious international growth plans,” Zuber says.
He says that they will reach out to the tour operators by emphasising on the differentials of UAE as one of the world’s top tourism destinations and a global hub for business. “Apart from sharing with them the USPs of UAE and Dubai, we will provide marketing collateral that will enable them to promote the destination to their customers. Most of the tour operators we have been interacting with are already aware of the UAE market. In fact, we have hosted several Russian tour operators in the past, and we have recorded strong inter- est from the Russian market since our inception. We will continue to keep the momentum going through our interactions with the tour operators. The Luxury Leisure Moscow event offers us a credible platform to engage with them directly,” he adds.
The Address Hotels + Resorts will showcase its diverse portfolio during the event. “For instance, The Address Downtown Dubai,The Palace Downtown Dubai and The Address Dubai Mall benefit from its location in the world’s most-visited retail and leisure destination. The Address Montgomerie Dubai offers a retreat like ambience in one of popular golf courses in the city, while The Address Dubai Marina offers an unmatched waterfront experience in Dubai Marina,” Zuber says.
Also, as Dubai prepares to host the Expo 2020, strengthening the hospitality sector to welcome the 25 million visitors expected during the six-month period is an impera- tive. “We will also support the expansion plans of Emaar Properties, as it focuses on creating varied integrated developments in Dubai and other emerging markets,”Zuber says.
As part of its international expansion, The Address Hotels + Resorts is expanding to Turkey, Nigeria, Bahrain and Egypt among others markets. The Address will also manage several new serviced residences as part of Emaar’s new projects in Downtown Dubai. Further, Vida Hotels and Resorts, a young brand launched by Emaar for the new generation of tech-savvy entrepreneurs and professionals, has also announced its expansion to operate Vida Marassi Al Bahrain and Vida Residences Marassi Al Bahrain. This marks the first international expansion of the Vida brand, which currently operates two hotels in Dubai – Vida Downtown Dubai and Manzil Downtown Dubai.
They have also launched Rove Hotels, a con- temporary new mid-market lifestyle hotel brand, with plans to roll out 10 properties across central locations in Dubai and the region by 2020.
Diana Ancuta, Director of Sales & Marketing, Al Raha Beach Hotel, says the hotel is doing good business in the Russian market and working with most of the tour operators in that country. "We are participating in the Luxury Leisure Moscow event. Al Raha Beach Hotel is well-established in the Russian market with 10 years’ experience and working with most of the major tour operators. Since business has become very last minute, we are here to discuss opportunities to improve sales for the new season," Ancuta says.
To guide and train Russian tour operators in promoting the UAE, she says, "Webinars and trade visits by Abu Dhabi Tourism along with stakeholders will help educate the tour operators and their reservations team. Hosted FAM trips and incentive to sell the destination will also help. As hotel, we are happy to host some of the important FAM’s while they are in Abu Dhabi.
On the expansion plans of Al Raha Beach Hotel, Ancuta says, "we are evaluating an increase in our F&B outlets which will offer more dining options to the in-house and local guests. Al Raha Club Lounge was recently opened to enhance the guest experience with facilities for both corporate and leisure. The leisure segment continues to be our focus as well as MICE and corporate."