Inbound tourism in the Russian Federation: concept, problems, prospects

Inbound tourism is a journey organized for foreigners, the service of foreign tourists.

"Colorful Russian estates or monotonous Siberia - foreign tourists know little about Russia", - the professionals of the tourism industry regret. Speech, of course, is no longer about the fallacy of foreign residents from the category: in Russia, bears are walking the streets, and the Russians are fed them. This is already a rudiment of ideas about Russia, however, like the opinion that for fifteen years in the country nothing has changed in the field of tourist services. Entry tourism in the Russian Federation should radically change these judgments, provided a competent approach to the development of new routes.

The concept of

A synonym for "inbound tourism" is the English word "incumbing". This system has its own tools for promoting tourism products, but not as developed as in the internal aspect. The market of inbound tourism includes business directions or cognitive-excursion.

Dynamics of tourist flows

The number of tourists in Russia grew at a good pace until 2014, followed by a decline associated with a decline in the business tourist flow due to the aggravation of foreign relations. But in 2015 the influx of travelers has recovered slightly. Rosstat cites the following growth dynamics of foreign visitors, who pointed out "tourism" as the purpose of the visit to Russia:

• 2011 - 2 335 977 people;
• 2012 - 2 570 469 people;
• 2013 - 2 664 782 people;
• 2014 - 2,583,079 people;
• 2015 - about 3 million foreigners.

Almost three years ago, Rosstat began to consider foreigners in Russia under a modified scheme, that is, switched to the accounting system developed by the World Tourism Organization, used by all countries. A tourist is someone who comes to Russia to spend money. According to this system, in 2015 it was possible to talk about almost three million foreigners. In 2016, they also noted a positive trend.

What keeps the tourist flow in Russia

Experts from the tourism industry say that foreign tourists have not become smaller, they simply spend less and are more selective in their choice of services. Experts call factors that hinder the development of inbound tourism in Russia:

• Insufficient development of international air traffic;
• Visa restrictions;
• security questions;
• The high price of the package;
• Low level of service;
• Weak infrastructure;
• Foreign political tension;
• Not enough information about the rest in Russia.

Positive factors

The situation with inbound tourism is still changing. Today this type of travel is considered a trend, and the professionals of the tourism industry are promoting Russia's tourism opportunities in the world. For the state, the advantages of inbound tourism, bringing direct investments, as well as jobs in the subjects of the federation, are obvious. In addition, a stable tourist flow stimulates the development of the tourism market infrastructure.

The favorable situation with inbound tourism is related to:

• Introduction of a facilitated visa regime;
• The appearance of a tourist police ;
• The development of infrastructures not only in the capital, but also in the regions;
• Creation of national tourist centers of NTO Visit Russia in various countries of the world for presenting image information about Russia.

In-demand routes

Soviet tourist company "Intourist" in the eighties, taking into account the peculiarities of inbound tourism, developed a hundred routes that are of interest to foreign tourists.

• Moscow, Saint Petersburg.
• Moscow - The Golden Ring of Russia.
• The Trans-Siberian Express.
• Tea way.
• The Great Volga Way.
• River cruises.

In the organization of inbound tourism today tour operators have to revive these areas, but so far only sought after popularized tourism products. Tourist opportunities of the regions are rather sparse, only two percent.

Incoming tourism strategy

Moscow and St. Petersburg can no longer remain the only centers of attraction for foreigners, including because of insufficient infrastructure: often there are not enough buses or tickets to museums. The professionals of the tourism market offer:

1. Develop a new mechanism for the formation of a tourist destination. For example, Moscow or St. Petersburg as large recognizable cities and the starting points of the route; Further - moving to other regions.
2. Create new brand routes that connect regions. For example, "Silver necklace of Russia." This direction includes eleven subjects with ethnographic, cultural and historical points.
3. Create a single full-fledged portal of tourism in Russia, combining all the proposals for foreign visitors.

Tourism is ruled by the brand

The modern tourism market offers not only organized tours, but also individual solutions depending on the purpose of the trip. The more flexible the offer, the more interesting they are to the tourist. Tourist flows are different, and the subtleties of tourism can not be overlooked. Russia can take advantage of demand, creating brands from cultural or natural centers, filling their images with tourist products. For tourists, borders of subjects of the federation are not important, they come for the sake of the object.

In addition to the capital regions, Baikal, Siberia or Kamchatka can open for foreigners; Noble estates, fishing ponds or reserves. In the tourism industry believe that today there are favorable conditions for the promotion of Russia abroad.

From where tourists come to Russia

Russia is among the ten most visited countries in the world, but it lags far behind France, the USA, Spain and Turkey. According to the number of tourists coming to Russia, China is the leader.

Foreign tourists in Russia:

• The European Union - thirty seven percent;
• Asia - thirty-three percent (China - twenty-three percent);
• South-East Asia and Australia - two percent;
• CIS - five percent;
• The Middle East is twelve percent;
• The United States is eleven percent.

To the tourism in Russia the interest of the citizens of Iran and India is growing. Russia's strategic interests in the segment of inbound tourism are directed to Iran, India and Vietnam.

Income from foreign tourists

The World Tourism Organization annually publishes data on the incomes of countries from inbound tourism. From them it follows that Russia is ahead of the smaller countries. And some get much more difficult than in the Russian Federation:

• The United States - two hundred and four billion dollars;
• Germany - almost thirty-seven billion dollars;
• France - almost forty-six billion dollars;
• Spain - fifty six and a half billion dollars;
• Russia - eight and a half billion dollars;
• China is one hundred and fourteen billion dollars;
• South Africa - just over eight billion dollars;
• New Zealand - almost nine billion dollars.

Russian tourists spend four times more than foreigners in Russia. Competition with countries that have long realized the benefits of inbound tourism makes it necessary to increase funds in this segment.

Regional markets for foreign tourists

Offering to develop inbound tourism outside the metropolitan regions, tourism experts note the inability of the subjects to offer quality services to foreign tourists. This concerns not only the development of the route, but also elementary trifles. Regional tourism should be supplemented by personnel - especially guides who know at least English.

Today, in subjects attractive to tourists, it is rare to find bilingual menus or hotel booklets for foreigners.

In which regions are more foreign tourists

The share of foreigners in hotels of the Russian Federation is more than eleven percent, that is, about six million people. However, the distribution of tourists in cities is uneven. More than half live in Moscow - thirty-five percent of the total number of guests, just over two million people. The share of foreigners in St. Petersburg is thirty-three percent of the total number of guests, more than a million people. It is curious that the number of foreign tourists is not always proportional to the internal tourist flow.

Regions of Interest to Foreigners

If we compare the indicators of domestic and incoming tourism, the results will be:

• Primorsky Krai: Russians - 813,511, foreigners - 145,483;
• Irkutsk region: Russians - 848572, foreigners - 124 901;
• Sverdlovsk region: Russians - 1,079,998, foreigners - 79,997;
• Tatarstan: Russians - 1 680 475, foreigners - 101 980;
• Vladimir Region: Russians - 535, foreigners - 88,845;
• Yaroslavl region: Russians - 633 984, foreigners - 48 845.

Tools for attracting tourist traffic

The increase in tourist flows is influenced by: the developed hotel base, modern airports and active promotion at the international level of tourist offers, including during the period of major world events.

In 2018, such an event will be the World Cup, which is hosted by Russia. And already in the stages of preparation for him, the country's promotion for tourism begins.

The games will be held in twelve stadiums in eleven cities of the Russian Federation. According to experts, the FIFA World Cup can attract up to 1.5 million foreigners, including through visa-free entry on the fan's passport and the FIFA list. Each tourist can spend in Russia on average about a thousand dollars.

Specialists of the offices of tourist centers created in the world Visit Russia hold a series of presentations about the country, develop programs to inform foreigners about the tourism opportunities in Russia. The championship poses new challenges for the tourism business, it is a unique opportunity to talk about Russian cities and make tourist advertising throughout the country.

From the Baltic to the Kurils, from the Arctic to the Caucasus Mountains

On the Russian tourism in the dark, not only foreigners. In general, and Russians only know about the iconic tourist routes, not imagining how many places in Russia, from which the spirit captures:

• Kungur cave in the Perm region - 148 vertical through shafts.
• Valley of lotuses on the Volga.
• Stalin's bunker in Samara - 12 floors, there is an elevator.
• Dancing forest with an ecological path.
• Kargopol is an ancient city, decorated with 11 white-stone temples.
• The sunken town of Mologa is 32 km from Rybinsk.
• Volcano Alaid on the island of Atlasov.
• Wrangel Island is a nature reserve, in which there are about four dozen plants and animals that are not found anywhere else.
• Kapova Cave - about 200 drawings of primitive people.
• Champ Island with round stones.
• The whale alley in Chukotka is an ancient Eskimo sanctuary.
• Pillars of weathering in Komi.
• Charskie sands with dune ridges up to 25 meters high.
• Museum of the World Ocean in Kaliningrad.

Over the past three years, the domestic tourism market has changed significantly: tourism niches have formed, the main players of the tourism business have decided, new tourist products are emerging in the regions. Domestic and inbound tourism can develop in one direction, in a unified infrastructure, but they should be aimed at different travelers - domestic and foreign. This applies not to routes, experts say, but to the subtleties of tourism, for example, language conditions and a facilitated visa regime. Other factors promoting Russian tourism products, such as ensuring security and comfortable passenger transportation, are equally necessary for consumers of this range of services offered to travelers from different parts of the world.