UK operators ‘unwilling to look at emerging markets’
Operators in the UK are too reluctant to add emerging markets into their portfolio, according to European Tourism Trade Fairs Association president Stanislava Blagoeva-Duschell. Speaking to TravelMole at World Travel Market, Ms Blagoeva-Duschell, who is also president of the Moscow International Travel and Tourism (MITT) exhibition, said she did not believe any operators from the UK had paid a visit to the Moscow stand during the show. And she said the approach was wrong because the end result was that agents were steering people towards some destinations at the expense of others. She told TravelMole: “If you are a new destination it is very difficult to penetrate the developed markets because operators sell what’s easiest. I’m talking about every emerging destination and not just Russia – for example central and Eastern Europe, China and Latin America.” She added: “If someone wanted to travel to Bali for example they would be hard pressed to find an agent who would sell it to them .They will try to channel you somewhere else instead which is not necessarily where you want to go.” However she admitted that operators did face some problems with trying to sell Russia to the UK market. She pointed out for example that the four hour flight time from London to Moscow – combined with the fact that Russia is three hours ahead – takes almost a day out of an itinerary. Moscow also suffers from a shortage of mid-market accommodation. But according to Ms Blagoeva-Duschell, this is due to lack of demand. She told TravelMole: “If the demand was there these properties would come immediately.” However she said that she believed that Moscow and St Petersburg were becoming firmly established as a business travel destination.The first Moscow Incentive and Business Travel Forum will take place on March 26 2004 at the Ararat Park Hyatt in Moscow as part of the larger MITT 2004 event which takes place between March 24 and 27. The business travel event will become a stand-alone show in its own right from 2005.
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