Vlad Koriagin, CEO of Baltic Travel Group

Baltic Travel Group is one of the leading tour operators in the Baltic States. They operate inbound tourism to the Baltic states and corporate outbound travel. It was created in 2000 and currently has 57 employees. They have offices in Tallin, Riga and Vilnus. We had the chance to interview Vlad Koriagin, CEO of the company.
Baltic Travel Group is one of the best companies specialized in the Baltic.
I hope so.
When did you start your activity and which are your inbound destinations?
In the year 2000, our inbound destinations are the Baltic States. The major focus is on Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. They were part of the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Before the Second World War they were independent. Now these countries are members of the European Union and NATO.
Estonia has a proportion of 1.4 million, Latvia about 2 million and the biggest is Lithuania with 3.4 million inhabitants. These countries are quite small. They are located on the Baltic Sea. They are very different, but they have a lot in common in terms of history and they are becoming quite popular destinations for visitors from around the world.
Of course, the major interest comes from countries like Russia, Scandinavia, Germany; but there is more and more interest from Italy, Spain, France, Japan, Australia, also coming to visit these three Baltic countries, which managed to keep their identity despite the history was difficult for them. They managed to survive and restore the independence.
Is it very important for the Baltic countries the relation with Russia because there are a lot of circuits that include them and Russia as a tourist package?
Yes, absolutely. There are some circuits that include the Baltic States and Russia, and some circuits that include Poland and the Baltic nations, and there are some circuits that include Baltic States and Scandinavia.
But, of course, Russia is very important because we have tourist in the Baltic States that continue their trip to Moscow. We are talking about countries from Asia, Latin America and China. The customers from Asia, Latin America, from America and Canada prefer to visit as much countries as possible, because they have long vacations so they can travel the whole month.
During this trip, they want to visit the maximum number of countries. Most of the clients normally join one trip that visit Scandinavia, the Baltic countries, Russia and some other countries.
About the promotion of your company, what strategies would prefer or do it separately or would you use the support of some other companies? Would you use the support of Russian companies to promote your product in a better way? What kind of strategies would you prefer?
We have different strategies for different markets. We use social presentations, in some markets we go to trade fairs, we are members of different marketing associations. For each market we have a different strategy.
What would you tell the people who are going to visit the Baltic countries? What do they have which it’s so fantastic and is so worth visiting them?
The grand major things, which are the most important, are first of all the history of these countries. They really kept their unique history and they have always been a kind of battlefield between Western and East. There are a lot of things related to Russia, but also a lot of things related to Scandinavia or Germany. This is really a mix in all which refers to the history of these countries.
The second element is that these countries are very green and the visitors love nature. There is no mass production in these countries, so almost half of the territories of these countries are taken by forest. They are the less populated countries in Europe and that means that they are very green, especially in holidays when people focus on sustainable tourism, when the people are looking to spend their vacations in clean places, ideal places for refreshment.
I think that Baltic people are very hospitable, are very proud of their history, of their culture. Despite of their troubled history, they managed to save their culture, traditions and they are proud of it.
So, I wish the readers of this wonderful magazine to come and explore the Baltic nations on their own.
Are the Baltic countries the biggest unknowns in Europe?
Yes, still for many Europeans. Even in Russia, despite it was part of the Soviet Union, some people still they mix them up and think that they are almost the same. But they are three different nations, with different languages, different culture. Of course, there are some singularities, but not as many as they think. The languages are completely different and when the people meet them, Latvians speak either English or Russian. Despite the people think that it’s the same, the people within the Baltic countries don’t even speak the same language. Each country in the Baltic is completely different and has much to offer. I encourage everyone to give a chance and visit them. They will be positively surprised.