Maya Lomidze, President of ATOR (Russia’s Association of Tour Operators)

Excelencias Group had the pleasure to talk with Maya Lomidze, president of the biggest Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), about the work of the group she leads, the interests of Russian travelers and the most attractive areas for the tourists of that nation. Lomidze spoke as well about Russia’s domestic tourism, its peculiarities and hurdles, the increase in the flow of Russian tourists towards the Caribbean and South American, and the presence of the country in tourism fairs.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) is one of the biggest ones in the world of tourism. How many members does it group together? Are travel agencies included? How many?
Based on the number of member companies, ATOR may not the biggest one, but allowing for the total volume of the market guaranteed jointly by our companies, it probably is. The Association comprises 47 leading companies that offer, in total, services to more than 60 percent of the outbound tourism market and to nearly 50 percent of the outbound and domestic market. Ours is the only tourist association of Russia comprised of tour operators only; travel agencies are not included.

Do all tour operators make part of the Association? Are there ATOR offices in different regions? Who runs them?
ATOR doesn’t have regional representative offices, but it does include regional companies.

Are there companies that work just for domestic tourism?
Yes, there are companies targeting either domestic tourism or outbound tourism only. But most of our tour operators work on several tourist fields.

What does Russia have to offer to foreign tourists? What are your principal destinations?
The most popular proposals have remained the same for the last decade. For sightseeing tours, there is Petersburg, Moscow and the cities of the Golden Ring, as well as cruises. For active tourists: Baikal, Kamchatka and Altai.

What can you tell those who think tourism in Russia narrows down to Moscow, Petersburg and the Golden Ring? What are other destinations proposed by Russia? What destinations, so far unknown, are under development (for instance, the Kuril and Sajalin islands)?
When it comes to domestic tourism, that is, Russians traveling in Russia, the demand of organized trips is smaller than that of trips to other countries, although tour operators are seeing an increase of sales of tourist packages for Russian regions. The thing is that the high prices of Russia tourist packages push national travelers to go on their own. At present, all the conditions for independent travel, as a much cheaper alternative, are all set.

The development of resorts in Altai and the Far East has been slowed down because of the high air and train fares; charter flights are not the solution to offer affordable prices for organized trips. Those regions are really interesting and have no equal in the world. Sajalin alone has the great value that is that in no other part of Russia one can see traces of the Japanese culture or ancient civilizations, where one can go fish a salmon or collect a handful of amber on the coast.

Still, it has been very hard so far and I insist that this is the result of the high prices of transportation tickets. I consider this is a line of work we have to pay greater attention to.

What do Russian tourists like: beach, sun, nature, history, SPA? What is the time of the year for peak tourism and what are the most sought-after destinations for them?
Russia is a northern country, for that reason, most Russian tourists obviously prefer to rest in warm regions, where there is the sea and the sun. And the highest demand is undoubtedly in the summer.

Many people think all Russian tourists are wealthy. Does this belief match the reality? For those who don’t know much about Russian tourists, could you, please, tell me how are they like? In what way are they different from other travelers?
Russian tourists are generous, and thirsty for knowledge. Even when traveling in all-inclusive packages, they are willing to pay extra for excursions and the possibility to see more.

The Russian tourist market is constantly growing and is a relatively new market, especially in international destinations. What are the most common overseas resting places for Russians?
The list of the most popular countries barely changes: Turkey, Egypt (in spite of everything), Thailand, Finland, Greece, Spain.

Latin America and the Caribbean: there are tourist offices from only two Latin American and Caribbean countries (Dominican Republic and Cuba) in Russia. Do tour operators maintain bonds with those offices?
As far as I know, there is some interaction. But grounds have been laid for future work. It is likely that an increase in their activity could cause the flow to those popular countries to grow faster than it currently does.

In relation to promotion, ATOR’s website features several European destinations and widely promotes countries like Turkey, Israel, Indonesia, Sri Lanka; however, there is little about Latin American countries. What would be your recommendation for tour operators and travel agencies willing to participate in the Russian tourist market?
For prospect countries like Peru, Mexico, Chile and Argentina, it’s not hard to find partners in Russia because there is a lot of interest in Latin America, and more specifically in South America. In order to succeed, they’d have to come here, visit any of the big Moscow fairs and get in touch with the leading tourist companies. It would be good as well to open representation offices of their tourism ministries here; experience has shown that it is very effective for the development of the country.

Tourism fairs are widely known as a means for tourism development, creating alliances and setting up agreements. In which fairs, others than Moscow’s, held twice a year, have you participated?
We usually attend the autumn tourism week, Leisure, and the Intourmarket fair in March.

What about the fairs of Latin American countries, Madrid, Cuba, Brazil?
Tour operators specializing in those destinations have, as a general rule, offices in those countries that work on their travel exhibitions and attend their fairs.

On September 23 last year the 13th Congress of the Russian Tourist Industry Union was held. At the same time, the Russian legislative body adopted amendments to the Russian law on tourist activities.  It is our understanding that a new form for contracting tourist services has being proposed which limits the work of travel agencies and that they can’t promote their products on their own behalf anymore. What is ATOR position with regards of this matter?
ATOR is categorically against the ban on travel agencies to work and sign contracts with clients on their own behalf. Accepting the amendment will lead to the introduction of deposits by travel agencies on the part of tour operators, the bankruptcy of part of the tourist firms and the increase of the prices of travel packages. By the way, the Federal Antimonopoly Service has stated that the amendment is against the Russian Federation’s civil code and asked the Ministry of Sports and Tourism to leave it out of the draft bill to be will discussed in the spring of 2012.