Expedia Committed to Supporting Local Online Travel Companies in Russia

Online travel agency Expedia is ready to support local online travel companies in Russia to develop their businesses by integrating its technology and making its expertise and product available to them.

At the same time, Expedia is raising the profile of Hotels.com locally, says Andrew Pyner, Business Development Manager, Expedia Distribution.

Online sales of hotel accommodation in Russia has only started to take off very recently. However, according to the industry experts from the reservation and distribution technology sector, the demographics are in place for fast adoption of the online model.

As for the Russian Federation local hotel bookings, the general lack of technology and mentality of hoteliers in various regions result close to zero online availability of those hotels.

Plus, Russian immigration rules to foreigners are making it impossible for tourists from other countries to freely travel or go for last-minute travel along Russian territories.

On how a company like Expedia can make difference in this arena, execs said looking at the way the hotel community in Moscow and St Petersburg especially have embraced the challenges of the developing travel market over the last 10 years, there is little doubt that this level of flexibility and dynamism will spread to the regions.