The authorities of Portugal plan to spend 100-150 thousand American
dollars in the promotion of the island Madeira
on the Russian travel market. Mr. Bruno Freitas, the Head of Madeira Tourism
Authority has now informed, that due to the intensive advertisement plan, the
flow and growth of tourism may increase by as much as 50-60% this year.
So far the number of
Russian tourists travelling to Madeira has not
been that large, only forming about 1.5% of more than 1 million visitors.
According to Mr. Ferias’ calculations, last year Madeira was visited by 15 thousands
tourists from Russia
which is 60% more than the number brought forward from the previous year.
Mrs. Elena Gurkova,
the Moscow
office Commercial Director of the Portuguese company “Alto Sol” has commented
that according to the preliminary data the tourist flow and growth rate is
presently between 15-20%, and may reach as high as 30% by the end of this year.
Mrs. Gurkova also
noted. “Mr. Freitash must have meant the whole of the Russian-speaking market
when he mentioned 50-60%. The Ukrainian tour operators have influenced the
charters a lot, also the tourists from Kazakhstan
and other former USSR Republics can be met in Portugal now. The majority of the
tourists visiting the island come from Great
Britain, Germany
and Scandinavian countries. It can now also be seen that more tourists from
Eastern Europe have started making their trips to Madeira.
Mrs. Elena Gurkova has
noted that Madeira is an all-year-round
destination with quite a mild climate and comfortable weather. The only
exception is the period from February to the middle of April when it is windy
and rainy. “Our tourists traditionally go to Madeira
during their summer holidays, September is also on high demand, this year we
were even faced with some difficulties regarding sufficient airplane tickets”,
she said.
The travel company has
been using charter flights operated by “Transaero” with the destination as
Funchal, the capital of Madeira. Besides that
there is a weekly “Transaero” regular flight to Lisbon. On top of that there are five regular
flights to the Portuguese capital operated by “TAP Portugal”.
The accommodation in
Madeira is similar to what the rest of Portugal has to offer. Bed and breakfast is the most usual, full
board is not very common and all inclusive is the scarcest. Mrs. Elena Gurkova has explained that
tourists prefer having their meals in small cafes and restaurants where the
food is nice, fresh and cheap. It has now been two years since the Russian
tourists were noticed here, and most of the restaurants now offer the menu in
the Russian language as well. Moreover, the local tourist business counts a lot
more on the Russian market. The number of British tourists visiting Madeira
seems to have been decreasing, meanwhile the figures of Russian tourists coming back to the island
for a second time has been seen to come up to at least 30-40%, according to
Alto Sol data.
