"The market in Russia has grown over the past 10 years: more and more people are paying attention to cruises every year. In 2016, when Turkey and Egypt were closed, there was a jump - the number of clients increased by 40%," said the general director of the cruise company. "Infoflot" Andrey Mikhailovsky.
According to Andrey Smolin, Commercial Director of Vodohod, over the past three years the number of Russians who prefer river cruises has increased by 15-20%. At the same time, the depth of sales has also increased. "The fleet is currently filled to 90-95%," he noted.
Deputy Director General for Tourism at Mosturflot Svetlana Goncharova also confirmed that Russians are choosing this type of vacation more and more often. "River cruises are practically not subject to crises, we have survived everything that has happened to tourism in recent years. The flow of tourists has not decreased, but increased," she said.
Dedicated tourists
According to A. Mikhailovsky, the vast majority of "cruise" tourists are ready to go on a repeat trip. "About 80% tourists are returning either this year or next. Those who were on cruises in 2017 have already made reservations for this year," he noted.
S. Goncharova called travelers who prefer river cruises "very loyal". "We had a record in our company last year: one tourist took 11 cruises in one navigation. Another tourist has been traveling on motor ships, "renting" a luxury cabin with a balcony for a month and a half, for 10 years now," she said.
Prospects in Russia and abroad
According to Alexey Tsyganov, Commercial Director of Atlantis Line, the total number of cruise passengers worldwide this year will approach 27 million people, and over the past decade their number has increased by 10 million. "At the same time, the capacity of the Russian market is currently estimated at 60 thousand tourists going on foreign sea cruises - the growth of tourist flow was 120%," he noted. A. Tsyganov also added that Mediterranean cruises are the most popular among Russians.
According to A. Mikhailovsky, the capacity of the cruise market within Russia is 300-350 thousand people. "The population of our country is 30-40 times larger, the potential is enormous," he said. The CEO of Infoflot emphasized that the main task now is "to attract Russians from foreign cruises to domestic ones, which are no worse."
Discussing this issue, experts agreed that Russian tourists now pay the greatest attention to the comfort of rest and the level of service on cruise ships. At the same time, Russian ships have recently almost not lagged behind foreign ones in terms of the quality of infrastructure and services provided. "For example, we have luxury class ships, where the service is at the level of five-star hotels," noted S. Goncharova.
The Cruise Festival workshop has been held since 2016 with the support of Rostourism; last year, 450 travel agents visited it in Moscow. The festival’s goal is to promote cruise travel as one of the promising areas for the development of outbound, domestic and inbound tourism.
Source: tourism.interfax.ru
