Catalan Tourist Board - Patrick Torrent, Deputy Director, “MITT is the most important platform for us in Russia. It’s a well-orgainsed exhibition and Catalonia has been a present at MITT for 17 years. We cannot miss this opportunity to meet with our colleagues in Russia. We now have 300,000 visitors [from Russia], and we expect this to increase in 2010. Probably the number of Russian tourists will increase by 10% because of the opportunities offered by the new players in the travel industry in the Russian market for Catalonia.”
Secretaria de Estado de Tourismo - Giselle Diaz, Director of International Public Relations, “For the Dominican Republic, the Russian market represents the 6th largest market in Europe. We have about 54,000 Russian visitors, increasing every year. We are satisfied with the current result, but there is still a lot to do in order to promote our country as a tourism destination. MITT offers a great chance for us to promote the country. We also work with the private sector and it’s our main meeting point. Normally, we participate with around 210m². We book advance meetings and, this year, we were fully booked. The event is very important for us.”
Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions - Anouk Ellen Susan, Marketing Director Russia, “We were at MITT 15 years ago. It’s very well orgainsed. I’m impressed by the amount of people here. We want to show Holland as an attractive brand and MITT is a great start to the season. At the moment, we have 100,000 visitors coming to the Netherlands from Russia and we want to double that by 2015.”
Israel Ministry of Tourism - Netta Peleg-Briskin, Counsellor for tourism affairs Russian Federation & CIS, “In 2009, 420,000 Russian tourists visited Israel. Our forecast for Russian tourists to Israel this year is 500,000 people. We always take part in MITT. It is the biggest international exhibition, the number of visitors is very high and it’s very effective – we sign lots of contracts here. Our stand has been busy all the time.”
Kenya Tourist Board- Muriithi Ndegwa, Managing Director, “This is the third year we have participated in MITT. There has been an increased flow of visitors and people are now seriously enquiring about Kenya as a tourist destination. We haven’t invested as much in this market as we should have so the numbers are not as large as other source markets but, from 2007 till now, there has been a continuous growth.”
Malta Tourism Authority - Josef Formosa Gauci, Chief Executive, “I think the Russian market is very much an emerging market - we’re looking for new markets where we can expand whilst looking after our existing business. Russia is definitely a place where the number of people travelling is increasing, the standard of living is going up, people want to travel, people want to go on holiday, they better weather and cultural attractions. It’s very important for us to present here. We exhibit here every year. It’s the main way we can make contacts, renew contacts with operators and secure business for the summer season and even for next winter. There have been a lot of visitors here over the last couple of days and we will definitely be here again next year.”
Ile de la Reunion - Paul Caro, VP Marketing, “I decided to come to Moscow to the exhibition because our product corresponds exactly with the Russian clientele. We have had excellent contacts today at the exhibition - that means we have had many more contacts than we expected.”
Oficina De Turismo Embajada De Espania - Luis Boves Martin, Director, ”The Russian market is a seasonal summer market but we can use January, February and March as a thermometer and the increase in visas is more than 50%, so if everything goes as well as now, we expect the figures at the end of the year to be the same as 2008, our record year, with more than half a million tourists from Russia to Spain. We want to establish a closer relationship with people in the streets. We are trying to put the professionals that are participating at MITT in contact with other Russian professionals to sign contracts and increase these figures.”
Tourism Authority of Thailand - Auggaphol Brickshawana, TAT Advisor, “Not long ago, we had a small number of Russians visiting Thailand - less than 100,000, and now it has increased to 336,000. It is a very interesting market and it has a big potential for us. MITT is now very famous, both for consumers and trade visitors. I’m not surprised – it’s a very interesting fair, quite a big fair, it’s well orgainsed and is of a good standard. It’s a strong way to promote Thailand to the Russian market. Next year, I think there will be more participants from Thailand.”
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture & Tourism - Levent Demirel, Deputy Director General, “We are the number one destination for the Russian market. Last year, we hosted almost 2,700,000 Russian guests in Turkey and, this year, we are expecting at least 3 million visitors from Russia. This year, the market seems bright for everyone because the global crisis is decreasing throughout the world. All the tour operators, hotels, associations and travel agencies are giving so much importance to MITT because this market is very important and all the big decisions are made at this fair. I’m sure that after the fair, we are going to get very good results.”
Minister of Culture and Tourism for Greece, Pavlos Geroulanos, “It’s wonderful to be here. MITT provides a good opportunity to exchange ideas. We have found a great interest in cultural tourism and we seek to pursue this further, both this year and in the years to come. I think the exhibition is marvellous.”
