Q & A with Felix de Paz, Director of Turespaña in Russia

Q & A with Felix de Paz, Director of Turespaña in Russia

After years dealing with several markets in Central and Eastern Europe, Mr. De Paz has been dispatched to Russia, which he considers “Europe’s emerging market per excellence”, with an average of 600,000 tourists traveling to Spain every year. He talked with Caribbean News Digital about the challenges his country faces due to the growth of those markets and the increasing competition represented by Caribbean and Latin American destinations.

You’ve been recently appointed Director of Turespaña in Russia… What were you working on before?
I was managing Turespaña’s shows and MICE area before I was sent to Vienna, as Director of Turespaña’s office in that city, the place where we’re dealing with the promotion of Spain in several Eastern and Central European countries; specifically, along with Austria, we’re talking about Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Rumania and Bulgaria. I worked there for the last six years until I was sent here.

What are the differences you’ve found among these markets and Russia, which is considered the most powerful and emerging market in this part of the world?
In Vienna we worked with “pseudo-emerging” countries, and I’m presently working with Europe’s emerging market per excellence, one of Spain destination’s most powerful markets. That’s backed up by figures: the growth in tourists traveling over the last years, except for 2009 crisis, is an answer to an emerging pattern. So I think Spain must take advantage of this opportunity as soon as possible.

What are Turespaña’s next moves in order to strengthen this destination?
A lot has been done. In terms of visas issued by the consulate, we’re talking about some 400,000, which approximately represent 600,000 tourists per year, a magnificent number for Spain and probe of the excellent work carried out. From now on, we’ll go through a budget austerity effort, the main goal would be consolidating the basic framework we’re moving in, and preparing the field for a future when the visa system would be more flexible or respond to other criteria, allowing us to increase the flow in a controlled and ruled way, and expand the market as much as possible.

I think we’ve presently reached the limit of our capacity as country in terms of visa issuing: the consulate is doing a great job, but I consider we’ve reached our highest point. The percentages where we’ll see that growth in the next years will be below the market’s potential. What I want is consolidating what we have and preparing the field for a short term situation when Spain throw itself into the consumer and we get the final customer with actions focused in this significant people we must attract into us.

Spain is facing the dynamic of neighbor countries, Mediterranean countries, with every time cheaper and better services, and we also have Latin America, applying measures such as visa exemption for Russia and high quality hotels including Spanish hotel chains, also giving more and cheaper … Don’t you think it’s urgent to convince Spanish authorities so that risk doesn’t become a specific disadvantage?
I wouldn’t talk about risks. I believe that Spain’s promotion in the main markets is pretty well consolidated and assessed. I concur there is an every time more competitive environment. It’s a competitive and unequal environment. Where should Spain play the game? That’s what we’ve been defending: differentiation, segments work, customers gaining, trade works … This is the strategy been carried out for our central services, globally, for every outbound country.

Undoubtedly, the Russian market is not going to be the exception: it’s a market where the promotion has been focused in the tour operation, where we had a lot to gain, and I believe we now have to refocus the subject to other strategies which are been analyzed by our central services, where a magnificent job is been done in sport events sponsoring, brand validation, knowing competitor’s strategies…

The competition is bigger nowadays, it’s a reality, but the Spanish tourism product is good enough. We must be concerned about the competition, but a think we shouldn’t look backwards, but to the future, what we must achieve and not what we could lose.

The non-presence of cities and autonomous communities and their businessmen in crucial shows just like this one, isn’t that a direct promotion failure?
I think we need continuity, it’s essential and it’s a message we have to send. Even more in this kind of market. This Leisure show is combined with MITT, where there is a higher presence of autonomous communities and relevant tourism companies. This fair is focused in the winter season; we’re working with Canarias, Cataluña, and Andalucía… I believe there is a good base, though it might be reinforced because the Spanish product has a low profile in Russian tour operator’s catalogues …

I repeat, there are absences, I concur, I believe we must follow a continuity line: emerging markets can’t be worked as short-term opportunity markets; they have to be deal with as markets with short and long term stable flows and that’s why it’s necessary to intensify the promotion. In the office, we are going to do everything in our hands to provide the best platforms so as to improve the positioning here of every autonomous community and Spanish destinations. I believe we mainly have a brand trouble, Spain brand does exists but it isn’t related enough to the values we shall transmit as tourism destination for this market. I believe the contribution of autonomous communities and companies in order to work out a stable and solid Spain brand, with all the qualities it must count on, is a fundamental objective…

We’ve appreciated in our surveys that there is a Catalonia brand in the Russian market, but not a Spain brand…
Brand validation is a complicated work to do in any sector. I believe this office has a short term goal, taking advantage of opportunities provided by the Year of Spain in Russia, in 2011, consolidating a work related to Spain brand as soon as possible.