In March of 2013 TRN magazine released an interview with a representative of Bhutan’s tourist office in Russia. This year we have had another meeting with the country’s tourism authorities in order to get the latest news. TRN’s editor-in-chief had the opportunity to speak with Head of Planning and Projects Department of Bhutan’s Tourism Department Mr. Kinley Wangdi.
Inbound tourist flow rose 33% as compared to 2012. This time around, Russians bought more mid-range tours and fewer expensive ones. This is due to the fact that Russian operators have studied the Japanese hotel market and have come to the conclusion that even inexpensive Japanese hotels offered comparatively good quality.
Travel Russian News magazine and Superjob.ru are ready to present the results of another joint research aimed at determining the attitude of Russians to a wide-spread tour operator service – early booking, and also at finding out which countries are often booked in advance.
According to travel search engine Kayak, during the first week of February the number of search queries regarding the flights to the host city of 2014 Olympics has grown 15% compared to the first week of January. Despite the increasingly high demand, it is currently possible to buy a one-way ticket from Moscow to Sochi for 3,000 rubles ($85). Kayak analysts project the prices to drop even more in a few days. It is also possible to find a vacant room for the coming weekend at an affordable price.
The most sought-after outbound destinations from January to September were Turkey (2.7 million people,+20%), Egypt (1.4 million people,+17%), Greece (1.1 million,+69%), Spain (887.1 thousand,+29%), China (787.2 thousand,-20%), Finland (787.1 thousand,+102%), Thailand (683 thousand,+23%), Germany (638.1 thousand,+20%), Italy (605.5 thousand,+31%).