Mexico Does What it Takes to Conquer the Russian Market

Mexico has gained momentum within the Russian market, soaring from 5,000 to 100,000 tourists from that country over the past five years. Within the framework of Moscow’s Otdykh/Leisure International Show, we talked to Javier Aranda, director of Mexico’s Tourism Office in Spain, about the work they have done to obtain such a figure and their plans to reach out half a million visitors.

We have interviewed Javier many times and he is an expert on the tourism world, due to his intense relation with the sector since he is one of Mexico’s most important names in the travel industry and, in 2012, was appointed head of the executive committee of Tourism National Foreign Offices in Spain (ONETE) 2012-2014.

Javier, we are in Russia, Leisure show. What does Mexico make of its growth in the Russian travel market over the last five years?
The truth is that we are very satisfied because, as you can see, this market has been increased since we made the visa issuing process easier and we have also put on the table the opportunity to obtain the electronic unique visitor visa. We have tangibly taken advantage of this situation.

For instance, five years ago we received nearly five thousand Russian tourists in Mexico, and now we have planned to welcome over one hundred thousand visitors by the end of 2013. Over the first seven months of the year we have a 56% increase if compared with the same period in 2012.

With our participation in this show, we see the interest of different Mexican providers and destinations. This market is ramping up for Mexico and we have come to Leisure with a booth that counts on 25 co-exhibitors, with first-line destinations such as Cancun, Riviera Maya, Los
Cabos, Puebla, and different hotel and inbound companies that are working with this market and have strengthened the flow of Russian tourism to our country.

You are telling me that the visa has played a major role for Russians travelling to Mexico, but the work with tour operators has been very intense, as well as the support to charter operations. Can you tell me the cost of advertising campaigns carried out by Mexico in Russia?
I remember that back in 2010, when I was in charge of the Advertising Trusteeship for Riviera Maya, we started this adventure with our partners from South Cross for the first charter flight to the airport in Cancun. We used to say that our investment was minimum, around 100 thousand euros, between Cancun and Riviera Maya, because of the support by the Travel Promotion Board.

We are planning this year an institutional investment of nearly half a million euros by the federal government, which is duplicated by the investment done by the operator in what we call joint cooperative programs, totaling one million euros.

We also have the actions managed by the private sector, so we could be talking about at least one million euros. This turns out to be more organized day by day, we are already working on the advertising efforts for 2014 and, beyond the cooperative efforts with market partners, we will also have more institutional presence, with specific advertisement by some neighbors, always representing Mexico brand.

How many charters do you have right now?
Aeroflot and Transaero are flying from Moscow. You know that winter is the peak season and we are looking forward to having two weekly flights by Transaero and probably six in the month by Aeroflot. But the Secretary of Tourism, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, announced two weeks ago the beginning of a flight from San Petersburg, from October to March. This new element will also help us to diversify departure hubs for Russian tourists, which we believe will be strengthening their position, just as Moscow has done.

Is Ukraine an interesting market for you?
It’s very attractive, we have our eyes on it, and I think that it will be one or two steps behind Russia. It was very important for us to consolidate this position with Moscow, but Ukraine obviously represents a great opportunity. They still have travel through Russia or Central Europe, but we think that we will have direct operations from Kiev sooner than later.

When are you planning to welcome one million visitors?
I think that we must proceed with caution and we could be talking about half a million visitors for 2018.

Among the characteristics of Mexico you have your size and diversity. What are the destinations Russians visit the most?
The Pacific Ocean coast is very popular among Russian tourists; which has been fostered by P.R actions, some TV shows and reality shows that have been produced by Russian television in Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit; and we are also looking forward to diversifying our arrival spots.

As the matter of fact, in some of the talks held by Secretary Ruiz Massieu with trade partners during her visit to Russia they agreed to start analyzing operations that could reach the Pacific Ocean zone, specifically thinking on Guerrero, Jalisco and Oaxaca as the main options.

It’s obvious that, due to geographic issues, the airport of Cancun has been an extraordinary starting point, but we also know that other beach destinations feature great cultural and archaeological complements and represent excellent opportunities for Russian tourists.

Two markets in Russia, two markets for the world. The Russian one was described as one of the outbound markets that spent the most as average. It has somehow become massive, how do you differentiate the actions for both markets? Do they still stand as the tourists that spend the most?
They are the highest spenders. They approximately spend the double of the average tourist in Mexico. They stay for longer and have an important economic power. I would say that, beyond making it massive, we are trying to diversify it, starting with the airport of Cancun, so they can have access to the range of destinations we have in Mexico. We are famous for our beach destinations, but in the heart of the country we have places that attract many markets and we know that Russian tourists are going to be interested as well.

How much does an average Russian tourist spend in terms of stay? Because it is more difficult to analyze external expenses …
Without counting the airlift share, when it comes to spending in the destinations we are talking about 780 dollars for average tourists visiting Mexico. Russian tourists spend more than 1.700 dollars in the same period of time, almost doubling average visitors.

As for the elite Russian tourism, the one that travels in private jets and explores on its own, have you calculated their consumption rate?
They nearly duplicate the 1.700 dollars of average Russian tourists, around 3.400, and we are not including the airlift share. The stays might be shorter, but they spend more. They don’t have much time, but love to enjoy and have fun, and Mexico features extraordinary offers for deluxe tourism along the country.

You have cruise ports and this is essential for Quintana Roo, for instance, and represents a natural way into the Caribbean Sea. Do you happen to know the percent of cruise tourists?
I don’t have the number, but they would basically come from the United States; as you know, in the case of Mexico, specifically Quintana Roo, we are arrival ports. So we depend on the information provided by shipping companies, basically the number of passengers, not their origin.

Is there any cruise program that allows passengers stay in mainland for a week and continue the cruise?
Yes, but there are just a few, some of which are managed by European companies. Pullmantur, for example, used to cover that route and give the opportunity to stay in the destination for one week and spend the other week on the cruiser, and it worked very well for them. They are presently taking a break before retaking the operation in Mexico.