Russians: Huge untapped market for RP tourism

With their big spending capacity and their sophisticated and luxurious tastes and lifestyles, Russian tourists are seen as a huge target market that could be tapped for our tourism sector.

This was noted by Efren Belarmino, general manager of the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Mactan who was one of the participants in a tourism fair held in Russia last month.

Belarmino said that despite the economic conditions experienced by major international markets such as the United States of America, Russians remain as a big market for the global tourism industry because their economy continue to thrive.

“Russians is a growing market and they are considered high net worth because they spend a lot for a lot of things. They love to shop, dine, do and experience everything,” he noted.

In months of January to July 2008, the Department of Tourism recorded that the European markets outpaced the growth rates registered by other markets and arrivals from the Russian Federation grew by a hefty 35 percent compared to last year.

Belarmino said that Russians usually stay a minimum of seven days and stays in the country as long as two weeks or more and they usually spend a lot on expensive food and wines.

The average expense that is spent by a Russian tourist usually average at around $300 to $600 per day for a couple, which does not include air fare, transportation and resort accommodation, said Belarmino.

He said that Plantation Bay has since been exploring the Russian market for six years already and they have usually been getting family of Russian tourists in their resort.

Belarmino shared that the Philippines had the biggest delegation in the tourism fair last month, a proof that the country’s tourism stakeholders are already realizing Russia’s huge potential to benefit the industry.

He said that some participants suggested for a business mission in Russia to provide “follow-up and follow-throughs” after the tourism fair to also access the developments in attracting this huge foreign market segment.

However, he pointed out one hindrance in attracting this market is the lack of flight frequencies that is coming from Russia to Cebu.

“Hopefully we could open up more chartered flights from Russia. I hope the plans of Middle Eastern carriers to increase its flight frequency in Cebu will push through,” he said.

Among these Middle Eastern airlines that expressed plans of increasing direct fights to Cebu included Qatar Air and other carriers such as Cathay Pacific, Singapore Air and Cebu Pacific.

He said that in preparation for getting a huge load of Russian tourists, Plantation Bay is now doing some room renovations and preparing themed activities that will be enjoyed by these tourists.

Right now, Plantation Bay has 252 rooms in its 13 hectare property, of which 3.5 hectares are covered with water and it has the biggest pool in Asia. —Rhia de Pablo