Looking beyond Moscow
To further enhance the robust multi-faceted strategic partnership with India, Russia is working towards increasing the Indian tourist inflow this year.
ANITA JAIN There
is a keen interest among Indian tourists to explore Lake Baikal region, Golden Ring and Trans Siberian Railway journey.
‘ The World without Borders’ Association, under the aegis of Rostourism, recently participated at OTM in Mumbai. It showcased the highlights of the country with a presentation for travel trade. It is aiming to increase the Indian tourist traffic by 50- 60 per cent this year by educating the travel trade about Russia and emphasising the growing business market of the country for corporate travellers.
It has appointed Mumbai-based Salvia Tours to promote Russian Tourism in India to work closely with Indian agencies. In 2012, Indian arrivals to Russia shot more than 90 per cent as compared to 2011. Manish Synghal, Director, Dimaz Group strongly believes that regularity and consistency are most important in holding pre- sentations on Russian Tourism in India.
He said, “A single event may only arouse the interest for Russia, and stimulate and provoke the travel bug of a curious traveller to explore the novelties unique to Russian Tourism. In my opin- ion, such presentations should be held on the eve of summer tourist season which is interesting for Indians.”
Meanwhile, the longstanding relations between the two giants continue to keep Russian interest high among Indian outbound tourists. Indians have a very strong interest in Russia, primarily, in the business and leisure tourism industry. Furthermore,
It is targetting family travellers and business travellers from India. The company will also hold promotional activities with trade partners in India to double the Indian arrivals. Currently, Aeroflot provides direct connections from India (New Delhi) to Russia (Moscow and St Petersburg) but soon the services would be extended to other cities in both the countries (Mumbai, Bengaluru, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Vladivostok).