Last year, only about 60 thousand Russians rested on sea cruises, but these trips are capable of attracting a much larger number of tourists to Russia. These are the conclusions reached by the specialists of the Italian cruise company Costa Cruises.
Despite the small volume of Russian tourists on the company's liners, Costa Cruises experts assess the market prospects positively. The company conducted a survey that examined the preferences of Russians aged 25-65 who plan to spend at least seven days a year on vacation abroad and spend about 1,000 euros per person. In total, more than 500 people from this category of consumers of tourism services were interviewed.
“About 97% of respondents are thinking about taking a vacation on a cruise, 76% are interested in such a prospect in the next 2-3 years, and 13% have already planned a sea cruise,” said Silvia Carloni, Managing Director of Fulcra.
“The dynamics of the last six months has shown that the interest of Russian tourists in cruises is growing. In total, 60 thousand Russians went on sea cruises last year, most of them with Costa Cruises. We expect significant growth this year. Moreover, the Russians see cruises both as an opportunity to relax and as a fashion trend, ”said President of Costa Cruises Neil Palomba.
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) estimates that 25.3 million people worldwide plan to take sea cruises this year.
He emphasized that the most popular cruise destination among Russians is the Mediterranean Sea, Northern Europe with a call to St. Petersburg, Mr. Palomba recalled that AlItalia airline puts direct flights from the Northern Russian capital to Venice, from where cruises to Greece, Croatia and etc. Also, according to Neil Palombo, Russians are also interested in traveling in the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, etc.
Answering the question about the language barrier, he stressed that on those cruises where the majority of tourists arrived from Russia or, for example, China, there are always employees from these countries. In addition, menus and cruise programs have been translated into Russian. Neil Palomba even compared the cost of a day of cruise with the price of a dinner in a Moscow restaurant. True, he stressed that a sea cruise is not all inclusive, the cost consists of accommodation, three meals a day and entertainment on board, and drinks and excursions are paid separately.
Senior Vice President for International Sales of the company Massimo Brancaleoni added that the crisis in Russia is coming to an end and recalled that if at its height the euro rate reached 100 rubles, now it is holding at around 60 rubles. This also contributes to the interest of cruise lines in the Russian market. At the press conference in the materials were also given the approximate prices for sea cruises, for example, a cruise + rest in Sardinia - from 1336 euros for 11 days.
According to Russian companies that sell sea cruises, 2015 was a disaster, but already 2016 gave an increase of 20-25%, and the increase in sales at the beginning of 2017 was even more significant - up to 30%. But we are talking about an increase in the number of tourists, in monetary terms, the increase was not so significant: people began to save more, travel less often and buy cheaper cruises.
If we talk about world statistics, then the annual growth of tourists in the sea cruise industry is about a million people. So, according to the International Association of Cruise Lines (CLIA), 25.3 million people plan to go on cruises this year, last year 24.2 million people used sea cruises, in 2015 - 23.19 million, a year earlier - 22.3 million. The cruise market ten years ago covered 15.8 million passengers.
Adriana Smirnova, 04/18/2017 10:38 AM
Cruise passengers are expected to increase throughout 2017, according to a report by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). According to experts, 25.3 million passengers are planning to go on a cruise in 2017, which shows an obvious increase compared to 10 years ago (15.8 million passengers in 2007).
Looking at the European cruise market, it can be noted that it has been growing steadily over the past ten years, reaching 6.7 million passenger traffic in 2016. Particular growth has been recorded over the past five years in all European markets.
According to Costa Cruises, cruise vacations have great potential in the Russian market. Economic recovery, political stability, growth in consumer confidence are the key factors behind the positive outlook for the coming years.
Costa Cruises has been marketing the cruise market in Russia since 2003. Over the past fourteen years, the number of Russian vacationers taking a vacation on one of the 15 ships in the Costa fleet has grown significantly. In addition, since 2007 Costa Cruises has been offering Russian passengers the opportunity to embark and disembark in St. Petersburg during the summer in the Baltic capitals. The most popular cruise destination for Russian tourists is still the Mediterranean.
Cruise company president "Neptune" and President of the Association of Cruise Operators (ACO) Valentin Eliseev reported that the increase in marine sales in early 2017 reaches 30%.
In the river segment, growth ranges from 25 to 45%. Experts are optimistic about the current year and expect positive results.
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Natalya Andronova, CEO of Atlantis Line, explains this by the Russian mentality. “Russian tourists are appreciated by cruise companies - they love to go shopping on board and leave the most generous tips. They also love balconies. But people who choose cruises are secured all over the world. Even statistics say that this type of vacation is preferred by intelligent clients who want to see the world and have a good job. In the city, they spend two to three times more than tourists on the ground, ”she said.
However, according to observers, Russians now make up less than 1% of the total number of cruise line customers. According to Giani Rotondo, General Director of Royal Caribbean for Europe, Middle East and Africa, now the Russian market supplies only 6 thousand passengers of the company a year. The tour operator wants to increase the share of this market to 15 thousand by 2020.
The seriousness of the plans is confirmed by the introduction of Russian-language service on the company's most modern liner - Symphony of the Seas. According to Natalia Andronova, suppliers make such decisions when the market potential begins to grow. Moreover, other players have already taken similar steps: for example, for the first time in world cruise history, Costa Cruises has introduced a full Russian-language service on four liners. And in April Carnival will launch a new liner Carnival Horison with a Russian service, which will cruise the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, at once on two Carnival liners, making cruises in the Caribbean, a service for tourists from Russia operates throughout the year, despite the fact that this direction is far from our country.
Natalia Bentas confirmed: the market of sea cruises in Russia has doubled in five years - from 40 to 80 thousand passengers a year. In her opinion, the Russian segment is growing faster than others in Europe, despite the fact that in 2016 the company's sales in the Russian Federation fell.
The two-day IX International Forum "Water Tourism", organized with the support of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Ministry of Transport of Russia, the Federal Agency for Tourism and other relevant ministries and departments, has recently ended in St. Petersburg.
The event, which has already become traditional for the Northern capital, this year was attended by about 300 delegates from federal and regional authorities, scientific, educational and business organizations.
The site was created with the aim of developing a constructive dialogue between all interested parties: representatives of government, business and the scientific community.
The forum discussed the implementation of public administration mechanisms in the field of water tourism, the creation at the federal level of the necessary conditions for the implementation of the tourist potential of the country's water resources.
The Federal Agency for Tourism was represented by the deputy head of the department Alexei Konyushkov.
He told the participants of the event about the work being done to prepare a new federal target program for the development of domestic and inbound tourism for 2019-2025 and the decisions provided for within the framework of the concept of this document aimed at realizing the possibilities of water tourism in Russia. In particular, in the concept of the new FTP, 15 promising tourist destinations have been identified, of which 9 are more or less related to cruise and water tourism.
The total length of navigable rivers, canals and lakes in Russia is about 100 thousand kilometers. Waterways run through 60 regions of the country. There are almost 70 seaports in the country. This is a serious basis for the formation of the Russian Federation as a world destination for water and cruise tourism. However, solving this problem requires the adoption of a whole range of measures to eliminate the existing restrictions on growth and the coordination of efforts of all stakeholders.
Taking into account the further increase in demand for domestic and inbound tourist trips predicted by industry experts, it is necessary to develop new mechanisms for effective legal regulation of passenger navigation issues, as well as development of the infrastructure of inland waterways and seaports of our country. In addition, at the moment there is a need to increase the attractiveness of water tourism not only for compatriots, but also for a foreign audience. In this regard, it is important to develop existing and create new tourist routes focused on the needs and interests of tourists from abroad.
Particular attention should be paid to creating conditions for the development of Russian ports as cruise destinations.
Currently, sea cruises of foreign cruise companies are one of the most promising drivers of inbound tourism.
According to the International Association of Cruise Lines, 24.7 million people traveled by sea in 2016. The most popular cruise destinations are the Caribbean and Mediterranean basins, European countries, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
About half a million cruise tourists come to Russia annually, who are attracted by the possibility of entering our country for 72 hours, during which they have time to see St. Petersburg and Moscow.
As a rule, cruise tourists come to the Russian Federation from economically developed countries: the USA and the European Union. According to CLIA statistics, they tend to spend about 3-4 times more money when visiting Russia than tourists of other categories spend. Also cruise tourists are mostly “return customers”. Fans of this type of travel become its constant adherents, which ensures a steadily growing inbound tourist flow.
“Russia is a very interesting and promising cruise tourism destination. At the same time, the possibilities for receiving cruise ships and the quality of service for tourists in the coastal regions of our country differ greatly. The bulk of cruise ships entering our country - 209 ships and 456 thousand tourists in 2016 - are received by the passenger port of St. Petersburg. At the same time, not even dozens, but a few ship calls are made to Chukotka and Vladivostok and Murmansk. At the same time, the annual number of calls of cruise ships, for example, to Alaska is about 600. countries among the world's cruise destinations, ”says Oleg Safonov, Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism.
