Officials at the 11th Natalie Tours Congress in Dubai yesterday (September 28) emphasised the UAE’s support to help revive the Russian outbound tourism market, which was slowly recovering from tough economic times triggered by the Rouble devaluation.

Marc Bennett, senior vice president for International Operations at Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing told over 220 executives from 10 Russian cities attending the Congress that strong signs of recovery were already visible from the bookings in Dubai hotels from the Russian travel agents and tourists.

“It is not the first time that difficult times have surfaced. Russia will recover and tourism business will recover. We will support you in every way we can to ensure strong Russian tourist visitations with longer stay,” he assured the key destination awareness and networking event by Natalie Tours, Russia’s top tour operator.

He said Russian tourists, who dominated the Dubai tourism industry landscape over the years, will be back in good numbers in the coming months and in the due course the recovery will surpass the previous year’s performance.

The decline in Russian tourist numbers began late last year (last two quarters of 2014) and continued with about a 40 per cent drop in the first half of 2015, he remarked, adding that the average holiday stay of Russian tourists in Dubai remains 10 days.

In the recent times, massive marketing, promotion and networking initiatives have been taken up by Dubai Tourism to boost up the outbound markets in the Russian and CIS markets. In October and November, a huge media campaign for Dubai will be launched in key Russian cities, utilising the print, digital and broadcast mediums.

In addition to a major roadshow conducted in Russia last week, Emirates and flydubai have been strengthening the air connectivity between the region and Dubai, thereby facilitating the sustained growth of travel and tourism industry, Marc stated.

“Our initiatives, along with the efforts by destination management companies like Natalie Tours, Alpha Destination Management and Dubai hoteliers will help strong assert the message that Dubai is an affordable destination for Russian outbound markets. We want to make them stay longer in Dubai by doing more things that are to become a reality soon,” remarked the official.

Over the next three days participants will be given information about new products in the Natalie Tours assortment of 2015/16, strategic plans and tactical steps taken by the company for growth and development in changing economic realities. The event will include an award ceremony for the best agencies in UAE sales, “mini-tours” to the best hotels and a presentation of new objects and bestsellers of the UAE hotel base. A gala dinner will also be organised on September 30 at Atlantis The Palm. – TradeArabia News Service