The Japanese tourists are expected by both the government represented by the Federal Agency for tourism (Rosturizm) the associations and travel companies in Russia. The Russian tourist companies undertake active efforts to attract the Japanese tourists in Russia, which has also resulted in the participation of the Russian companies in the international JATA Tourism EXPO Japan exhibition, which took place on 22-25 September in Tokyo (Japan). “Marketing, exhibitions, consulting” LLC, the Tourist Association “World without borders” and Rosturizm have organized a united stand representing Russia at the event.
The travel companies from Moscow, the Irkutsk region, Kamchatka, Primorsk and Khabarovsk territories, as well as the representatives from the Altai and Sakhalin regions have presented a number of travel offers for the Japanese tourists. For instance, Primorye introduced to the visitors the unique biosphere reserve and Khabarovsk company “Intur-Khabarovsk” told the guests about the natural monuments and reserves of the region. The tours on lake Baikal from “Transsib Voyage” provoked special interest among the guests of the trade show.
One more thing can tell us about the importance of the Japanese tourists for Russia. On September 28, 2016, at the Board Meeting of the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation the head of the Federal tourism agency Agency Oleg Safonov said that the English version of the national tourism web portal Russia.travel will be launched this December. He also told that later six more versions would be added, including the version in Japanese.
“E Vesti” asked the head of the Federal Agency for Tourism, Oleg Petrovich Safonov, to comment on the prospects of the Japanese inbound tourism.
EV: Could you please tell me, what is the reason for the launch of the Japanese version of Russia.travel?
Oleg Safonov: Japan has been one of the priority markets for the host countries. The number of the Japanese residents traveling abroad is relatively small: no more than 20 million people a year. However, a Japanese tourist is attractive in economic terms, as he spends a lot of money in the host country. His daily program is full of sightseeing and other activities. He stays at expensive hotels, buys a full board and so on.
EV: The number of tourists coming from Japan to Russia is relatively small. Are there are any expectations in this regard? If yes, could you tell me how much the number of tourists from Japan can grow in the near future (this year)?
Oleg Safonov: In the best years Russia was visited by up to 90’000 citizens of Japan. We look into a possible return to this figure as minimum. We are interested in the Japanese tourists and we will do our best to attract them to our country.
According to the Travel Association “World without borders”, the Japanese tourists are very interested in visiting Russia: in the first half of 2016 36’000 Japanese tourists have visited the country. With that the number of the Japanese trips to Russia pales when compared with the figures from China: in 2015, Russia was visited by 677’000 Chinese tourists.
