India opens a representative tourism office in Moscow

Indian National Tourism Office will be opened in Moscow this October. Mr. Subodkh Kant Sakhay, the minister of tourism, stated at Leisure-2011 travel trade fair, that Russia, though not included in top ten the most significant inbound markets for India, is very perspective.

The tourist flow from Russia was doubled this year. Besides, no less than 30% of those, who once came to India, return again. In addition, our compatriots do not tend to save on travel expenses, generously spending money on excursions, shopping and excursions around the country. Russian market is rapidly growing, and the capabilities of Frankfurt Office which is currently working with Russia are definitely not enough – the Minister pointed out.

India once had a rep office in Moscow. It operated from 1997 to 2002 when it was moved to Frankfurt due to lack of strong demand for travel to India. As Mr. Singh then said to RATA-news, it didn’t mean that the Hindu completely lost interest in the Russian market.

In 2010, according to Indian official statistics, 122 thousand Russian tourists visited the country. For comparison, around 916 thousand tourists arrived from the USA and 755 thousand from the UK. One third of the inbound tourist flow accounts for these countries. The number of German and French guests is much less – 224 and 218 thousand respectively. The important markets for India are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Japan and Australia. The republic had about 5.6 million foreign tourists in 2010, considering that 2008-2009 were extremely unfortunate for India’s travel industry.

The country plans to keep the 10% growth rate. It’s assumed, that growth will not only include traditional markets for India, but also new to the destination Eastern Europe and Russia. Moreover, according to the Minister’s words, the work of the office won’t only focus on Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also feature road-shows in many Russian regions. Mr. Subodh Kant Sahay assured that the office will be operating in close cooperation with Russian tour operators.