Zuzana Batista, Sidetours Incoming Services
Within the framework of MITT 2015, Caribbean News Digital talked to Zuzana Batista, who has been working with the Russian market for over two decades and has now joined Sidetours, an incoming company for Spain that is specialized in the Russian market, although it also targets the German segment.
How many Russian tourists were you moving and what were the main destinations in Spain?
The volume wasn’t very significant, taking into account the growing trend, but we were moving nearly 30,000 passengers from the Russian market.
Where were they traveling to?
Basically to Catalonia and Andalusia.
What was the average stay time?
The average stay time was 10 nights in Spain. They used to do both coast and city: seven nights at the coast and the rest in the city, Barcelona, Madrid or Malaga capital city.
What was the average package bought by Russian tourists?
These packages are very expensive, because we’re talking about people that were traveling from Russia on buses, so the trip approximately costs 2,500 to 3,000 euros. These are long trips somewhere between 21 and 19 days.
What do you do from Russia?
We sell our product throughout Russia. The people gather in Moscow and they are sent on trains from Moscow to the border of Poland – Belarus. That’s where they take the buses that cover the routes through different European countries, visiting places on their way to Spain. They arrive in the Basque Country, Catalonia, depending on the circuit. They always spend seven nights at the coast.
They were also flying to Germany, taking a bus there and the tour included Portugal and Morocco.
What’s the origin of Sidetours?
The company was founded in Palma de Mallorca, where we have the head office and it’s owed by Mr. Bernardo Quetglas. Sidetours has been part of Spain’s inbound market for over 40 years. It has always worked with the German market, an important market share, as well as the English and Scandinavian markets, the Netherlands.
The Russian market was off the beaten track at the time and with the opening of the Catalonia, which is one of Russians’ favorite destinations, we included that market.
What’s the kind of customer you deal with?
At the very beginning it was a market of wealthy people, who were interested in expensive things; they had a lot of money. That tourism segment has progressively vanished, as those tourists have found other places where they can spend big deal of money the way they want. It later became a mass tourism, middle-low class. The situation was prosperous until the present crisis and within Russia it’s a middle-high tourism, depending on the target region in Spain.
Back in 2004 I brought tour operator Textour and it developed its operations in Spain. The kind of tourist we receive depends on the tour operator. That’s pretty-well defined in the market. In the case of Textour, it was a more-corporative-and-executive segment, because they have agreements with the government. It was a high-end tourism, middle-high. We have lately received a mass tourism, middle class, moved by Coral.
How would you define the Russian market’s current situation?
There is a political crisis. In Russia they are trying to extol patriotism, by making their citizens believe that they are spending their money in countries where they are not welcomed, just like European countries, etc. This is not positive because they are telling their people to spend the money within the country in order to be stronger, instead of feeding the Europeans that don’t want them.
What are the advantages for European or Latin American tourists interested in visiting Europe or Russia?
The country has spent some years making arrangements to work as an inbound destination, so big deal of infrastructure has been built, prepared. The devaluation of the currency benefits those who travel with euros or dollars. The more the currency is devaluated, the more Europeans and Americans save when coming to Russia.
Do you think that Latin America can be an outbound destination for Russia?
Yes, indeed. Russia features gorgeous places to be visited. I have fortunately traveled to Siberia, Baikal, and the Ural Mountains. There is so much beauty in Russia, so much nature, architecture, culture and history to be discovered by both Latin American and European tourists.
Why have some Russian tour operators closed their offices?
It’s been a domino effect. My guess is that the State is trying to control the tourism flow like it did 20 years ago. This is a powerful tool, just like oil. Where do I send my people? Depending on whom my friends are, that’s where I send the money.
I think that it’s been a chain. They have proven, for example, that when the people were abandoned in different countries the government rescued them. In European countries, many hotels didn’t let the clients in because there was no money on the account. They benefited from these stories of tour operators going bankrupt and tourists being abandoned in European countries.
The State saved them, but it wasn’t the State as such. It was the warranty all tour operators have to pay. It’s not insurance, but a sort of tax tour operators pay in case of their closing. The story has been sold as if the State rescued all these people from European countries, because most of the bankrupted tour operators were working with European destinations.
What could the final outcome be of lowering prices, just Spain has, in an effort to attract Russian tourism?
I think that Spain isn’t actually lowering the final price for the Russian market. The hotels are holding their prices. The Russian market has been abused as it stands for a short season and has paid the highest prices in the market.
The people have to reinvent themselves, specifically the areas that mostly depend on the Russian market, and look for new market niches. In fact, that’s what they are all doing.
Do you think that the high-purchasing-power Russian tourism will shine through again, since it was overshadowed by the middle-class tourism?
I don’t think so. I have a lot of friends with high purchasing power and they might come to Spain. Nowadays, living and eating in Russia is very cheap. That’s the difference. Some of my friends used to come to Barcelona for New Year’s Eve and this year they told me that staying home and eating at the best hotel in town is cheaper than going to Spain. It had always been otherwise.
As for the outbound approach to America and the Caribbean, how do you think the Russian market will react after the bankrupt scare?
I think that those are markets to be opened. Russian tourists love Latin America, Spain. The situation is not good, but over the past three or four weeks we’ve seen joy related to the bookings. However, I’ve talked to several tour operators and they have told me that France is down; the outbound to France has significantly fell.
Within this negative situation, Spain is not as down as France. For instance, over the past three or four weeks we have received bookings from the Russian market. The postponed implementation of the biometric fingerprint system to September has been very positive to save this season and I believe that it will never be the same. We’re going to have some bad years, but we won’t completely lose the Russian market.
What do Russian tourists look for in a destination: service, price, quality, comfort, new elements?
I wouldn’t say new elements, because many of our customers repeat. In the regions of Costa Brava, Costa Dorada we have a great number of repetitive visitors. I think it’s the cuisine. The service is not that magnificent, but they do like our joy, the light, the happiness shown by the people.
