With Turkish and Egyptian resorts not being an option this year, Russian tourists are selecting Croatia as their holiday destination
Judging by the record attendance of a workshop recently organised in Moscow and all information coming from leading Russian tour agencies, Croatia can expect an increase in the number of Russian guests this summer, Hina reports on January 30, 2016.
Director of the Russian office of the Croatian Tourist Board Rajko Ružička stated: ” Record attendance during our workshop is the best indicator of the increased interest of Russian guests for Croatia. We hope this year’s results will confirm it. Since Turkey and Egypt are still closed for Russian guests, it is estimated most Russian travellers will head to Mediterranean destinations Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Croatia and Montenegro. Considering Russian guests do not require a visa for Montenegro, it is clear this destination is very interesting for them, but that does not mean Croatia cannot achieve great results in 2016″ he commented.
It is often said that the Russian travel market is quite unpredictable both because of the unstable Ruble and the fact that they mostly book their travel arrangements at the very last minute, however, all current announcements and booking trends show that after three years of constant decrease, we should expect higher numbers of Russian tourists in 2016: “We are aware that the Russian market is a very specific one, but we continued with our advertising campaigns and B2B and B2C workshops” Ružička says.
Special presentations are planned for February, March and April in Kazan, Ekaterinburg and Saint Petersburg as well as a presentation at the MITT expo in Moscow.
When asked about any possible new flights from Russia to Croatia, Ružička stated that the only confirmed flights so far are the regular seasonal ones from Moscow to Zagreb, Split, Pula and Dubrovnik while details about any charter flights are yet to be announced” According to current announcements, we expect more flights for Croatia, and based on the information we already have, most flights will start operating in May and last until September” he added.
According to official data released by the Croatian Tourist Board, 113 000 Russian tourists visited Croatia in 2015 with 866,100 overnight stays which is a decrease of 24,5 % and 27,2% when compared to 2014.
