Q & A with Maria Badakh at MITT 2016 in Russia

Maria Badakh has been organizing the MITT fair in Russia for quite some time now and her knowledge of markets and planning details is key to making the tradeshow succeed. New countries are getting their big break while others have jumped ship. Caribbean News Digital sat down with her in Moscow and this is what she had to say.

What are the new countries coming to MITT this year from the Caribbean and the Americas?

This year we have a newcomer, the Ministry of Tourism of Honduras. They had never participated before, so we are glad to have them in our show. They want to attract Russian tourists to spend their holidays in Honduras.

We also have Panama. They didn’t exhibit over the last 3 or 4 years. They came in 2012, I think, and now they are coming back with a big stand and the Deputy Minister of Tourism of Panama is here. That’s great and they have a beautiful stand. We wish them all the best.

It’s good to have really big groups from Brazil, Cuba, Argentina and the Dominican Republic to exhibit again. We were expecting the Ministry of Tourism of Venezuela to exhibit, but due to the difficult situation in the country they have postponed their decision and finally said that they are not coming. Venezuela was one of the clients we were hoping to get, but they couldn’t make it.

Otherwise, compared to last year, we didn’t lose that many exhibitors, especially from Latin America. We also have Mexico.

I think that this exhibition is actually looking more positive and the people are expecting the situation in the industry to improve soon.

What about the U.S.?

The U.S. cancelled two years ago, but it’s political, it has nothing to do with business. There are lots of Russians traveling to the United States. We lost United Kingdom, Germany and the United States as soon as the situation with Ukraine came up.        

How is Spain doing at MITT?

Spain has a massive presence in MITT. It’s really good timing for them because 4 million Russians cannot travel to Turkey any more. It’s a good time for other Mediterranean destinations, including Spain, to benefit from that. So we have a massive presence from Spain in 400 square meters. We have Cataluña with 300 square meters, which is traditionally a favorite destination for Russians.

We have another newcomer: PortAventura. They have a beautiful stand with Span here. We also have a lot of tour operators, Natalie-Tours, Melia Hotel.     

Is Iberostar present here?

No, we don’t have them here. Otherwise, there are more than the exhibitors we had last year. Spain did not decrease, Cataluña did not decrease. It’s still the same

And Turkey?

As for Turkey, it´s illegal for them to promote in Russia. Unfortunately, they couldn’t exhibit because there are sanctions against Turkish tour operators.

Egypt?

Egypt is exhibiting. Egypt is still here, with the same stand size of last year. We talked to them after this situation of the plane happened and they decided to stay in the show because Russia is an important market for them. Egypt is obviously becoming the next best destination after Turkey, because it´s still one of the few countries where we can get All Inclusive for little money.

The presence of tour operators is very important. The main tour operators in Russia are here, aren’t they?                                       

Yes. I’m not in position to tell you because it’s not my client, I only work with the Ministry of Tourism. I can tell you, for example, that in our national pavilion we have Biblio Globus, which is one of the large tour operators. They are exhibiting with a 200 square-meter stand. We also have Mouzenidis.

Greece is actually one of the positive news this year. There is massive presence from Greece because it´s the alternative for Turkey.

Every country in the Mediterranean region is trying to attract the Russians. Turkey used to provide All Inclusive options. Greece is now looking to give visas to Russians in three days only. Greece’s embassy in Russian is working to simplify the process.       

We have a massive presence of the region, 250 meters; as well as 820 meters for Greece National Tourism Board. The Minister of Tourism of Greece is going to be here tomorrow.

They all understand the importance of the Russian market. They have always exhibited, but now they are all here, the main faces of the ministries, to kind of show support to the Russian industry and basically to persuade them to travel to their countries.

How many ministers will travel to MITT?

Ministers have changes in their plans all the time, but tomorrow we’ll be expecting about ten ministers. The Bulgarian minister might be here, the Spanish vice-minister might be here, but we’ll see tomorrow. The Israeli minister will be speaking in the opening.

What’s your opinion about the traveling of Russians? Do they go to Europe or America? Do you think the number of trips is growing or going down?

I think that the main problem with tourism in Russia is economical. People simply can’t afford to spend a lot of money on holidays the exchange is a little bit low.

Having said that, it’s good timing for South American destinations because those are expensive holidays, simply because of the flight. It’s a good time for them to come to Russia because they can bring more luxury to their countries.

As for what happened to Turkey, we’re hoping it would open up sooner rather than later. I would say that those countries who can adapt to Russian tourists and, through discounts, special packages, All Inclusive, whatever they can do; it’s very important that they understand the situation and do that.

What’s the new section of MITT now?

We have Medical Tourism Section, we have MITT Summit, which is the conference in Russia. MITT is such a big show and what I want to tell you about the Russian market is that people expect a massive growth from this market because that’s what has happened for 20 years.

For example, 2014 was our best year ever and most of our exhibiting destinations had probably 40 – 60 percent growth in one year, from the Russian market. Thailand, for example, got about 2 million Russian tourists. Russia, in 2014, was the largest European market for Thailand.

If you think maybe five years ago one million Russian tourists in Thailand was a very good result. But they want more and more every year and this is not going to happen in the next two years. Still the figures are very good, because Russia is a market country and adapts to the situation. They still have a really good chance of getting 1 million Russian tourists.

I think it’s important for any business and destination to keep their position in the market. The Islamic Republic of Iran is now Russia’s big partner, since it supplies Russia with milk, everything. Iran has a 250-square-meter stand with about 16 exhibiting companies.

What I’m saying is that Russian still shows good figures. Don’t let these figures drop. You have to come to this show, do business with Russia, maintain your position, otherwise somebody else will.