Bermuda was added to the list of countries, which Russian citizens can visit without a visa. Yet it’s still unclear how the whole procedure will look for our tourists. Tour operators are still waiting for the British Council to give some details about the border crossing procedure and the exact date, when this law goes into effect.
Up until now Russian tourists had to go to the British embassy in order to apply for a Bermuda visa, due to Bermuda being a British overseas territory. One had to prepare many papers and fill out an online form for the British Migration Service as well.
Yulia Velskaya, the destination’s manager at San Tour, thinks that “it’s possible that the number of tourists to Bermuda will increase with the cancellation of the visa regime. Yet it’s not enough to make this country a top seller”. According to her, there are mostly individual tourists on this destination right now. Their company sends about 10-15 people to Bermuda every year. It’s the high price tag on this country which keeps the tourists away – a 10-day trip will cost about 110 thousand roubles (around €2.7 thousand) for one person. “With such prices the €120 visa fee doesn’t look so troubling. What’s worse is the time it takes to obtain one – about 3 weeks”, – she said in an interview to RATA-news. Mrs. Velskaya sees yet another drawback of this destination in the lack of direct flights. If you want to visit Bermuda, you’ll have to make a transit through London or New-York.
Viktor Komin, General Tourism Manager of Miracle, started by saying that “There will be a slight increase in the tourist flow”. He remembered the South American market going up after the visa regime with Russia was simplified. “Even though Bermuda is a famous brand in tourism, Russian customers haven’t really taken a liking to this destination. It’s expensive and pretty far away at the same time. Only newlyweds and people who enjoy exquisite and exotic beach resorts choose Bermuda as a place for their vacation”, – explained the tour operator representative. He also noted that the booking system in Bermuda is pretty complex, which makes last minute sales almost impossible.
Antoniy Plakhov, Marketing Manager for Sodis, feels that the cancellation of visas is not sufficient enough to boost the popularity of this destination. “Russian tourists know nothing of this country, because there’s no proper advertisement. And demand for these tours will be low, as long as this information vacuum exists”, – concluded the Expert.
