"The Russian market has grown over the past 10 years: more and more people are turning to cruises every year. In 2016, when Turkey and Egypt were closed, there was a surge—the number of clients increased by 401,000," said the cruise company's CEO. "Infoflot" Andrey Mikhailovsky.
According to Andrey Smolin, Commercial Director of Vodohod, the number of Russians preferring river cruises has increased by 15-20% over the past three years. At the same time, the depth of sales has also increased. "The fleet is currently 90-95% full," he noted.
Svetlana Goncharova, Deputy Director General for Tourism at Mosturflot, also confirmed that Russians are increasingly choosing this type of vacation. "River cruises are virtually immune to crises; we've weathered everything that's happened to tourism in recent years. Tourist traffic hasn't declined, but rather increased," she said.
Dedicated tourists
According to A. Mikhailovsky, the vast majority of cruise tourists are ready to return. "About 801,300 tourists are returning either this year or next. We've already booked cruises for this year from those who took them in 2017," he noted.
S. Goncharova described travelers who prefer river cruises as "very loyal." "Last year, our company set a record: one tourist took 11 cruises in a single voyage. Another tourist has been traveling on river ships, 'renting' a luxury cabin with a balcony for a month or six weeks, for the past 10 years," she said.
Prospects in Russia and abroad
According to Alexey Tsyganov, Commercial Director of Atlantis Line, the total number of cruise passengers worldwide will approach 27 million this year, an increase of 10 million over the past decade. "Meanwhile, the Russian market's capacity is currently estimated at 60,000 tourists taking international cruises—an increase of 1,201,000 passengers," he noted. Tsyganov also added that Mediterranean cruises are the most popular among Russians.
According to A. Mikhailovsky, the domestic cruise market capacity in Russia is 300,000-350,000 people. "Our country's population is 30-40 times larger, so the potential is enormous," he said. The CEO of Infoflot emphasized that the main task now is "to attract Russians from foreign cruises to domestic cruises, which are no worse."
Discussing this issue, experts agreed that Russian tourists currently place the greatest emphasis on the comfort and service level of cruise ships. Moreover, Russian ships have recently become almost as good as their foreign counterparts in terms of infrastructure and service quality. "For example, we have luxury cruise ships where the service is on par with five-star hotels," noted S. Goncharova.
The "Cruise Festival" workshop has been held since 2016 with the support of Rostourism. Last year, 450 travel agents attended it in Moscow. The festival's goal is to promote cruise travel as a promising area for the development of outbound, domestic, and inbound tourism.
Source: tourism.interfax.ru
