INCREASING THE AWARENESS OF LITHUANIA IN TARGET MARKETS: GOOD PRACTICE AND GUIDELINES FOR THE FUTURE RUSSIA

Transcription

1 INCREASING THE AWARENESS OF LITHUANIA IN TARGET MARKETS: GOOD PRACTICE AND GUIDELINES FOR THE FUTURE RUSSIA September 3, 2013 Victoria Mukranova, Director of Tourism Maria Grebennikova, Lithuania dedicated manager

2 Market Data Russia

3 MARKET OUTLOOK Facts & Figures Area Population Capital & Largest City 17,075,400 km mil Moscow Economy: Agriculture (4.5%), Industry (36.9%), Services (58.6%) Key industries: mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; machine building; defense industries including radar, missile production, etc GDP (US$trl at PPP) Real GDP growth (%) Population (m) GDP per head (US$ at PPP) 15,300 15,900 16,750 Unemployment (%) Inflation rate (%) Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (EIU) 2011 (June); CIA World Factbook, World Bank

4 MARKET OUTLOOK Since 1995 there has been a positive trend in travelling to foreign countries from Russia arrivals: 15, 3 mln (+6% vs 2011) Outbound Traffic Growth in Russia (Number of departures in Mln)

5 MARKET OUTLOOK RUSSIAN TRAVELER PROFILE: Median Age 38.3 years Average duration of travel 9 to 12 days 9th largest Spender in the world Very demanding Prefers using Cash instead of CC Values quality and Premium product Likes diverse & interesting program/itinerary Having language barrier Tourists tend to combine different types of vacation in one trip Late booker FAVORITE DESTINATIONS FREQUENCY OF TRAVEL

6 MARKET OUTLOOK 4 weeks annual leave Peak season are as follow: Mid of June to end of August X-mass & New Year s vacations (1-10 January) May holidays Top holiday priorities: Relaxation; Sightseeing; Culture; Shopping; Adventure

7 MARKET OUTLOOK Internet Penetration Trends With 61.6 mil users online, Russia has a 43% Internet penetration rate Fastest-growing & 5th largest Internet population globally Moscow and St. Petersburg have 70% Internet penetration In Moscow, 92% of Internet users go online at least once a week; 80% are online every day On-line travel tools are becoming more and more popular Most of the big ticketing agencies offer on-line booking Internet Penetration (in mil users) 61,6 41,5 38,4 35,

8 MARKET OUTLOOK TOP 10 countries for outbound tourism for Russia TOP 10 in Tourism 1 Turkey Egypt China Thailand Spain Germany Greece Italy UAE Finland outbound tourism : 15, 3 mln (+6% vs 2011) Lithuania ,3 Russian tourists Lithuania Russian tourists (+44,6%) Lithuania Q ,5 Russian tourists (+16,6%) Lithuania 2013 forecast 278 Russian tourists (+30%) Summary: Analysis of the destinations shows that Russian market is leisure oriented, tourists prefer countries with warmer climates. More Russians are choosing countries where they may supplement time on the beach with other activities, such as cultural and sporting events, shopping and recreation

9 TRAVEL TRADE MARKET OVERWIEV 15 major TO, only few of them provide on-line booking of packages to Lithuania All of the TO make packages to all Baltic countries Most popular packages are 2 capitals (Riga, Vilnius) or 3 capitals (Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn) 50% of the tourists who come to visit Lithuania visit Vilnius and Trakai only Average length of the trip to Lithuania is 3 days Destination is positioned as the destination for excursion mostly Most of the tourists choose bus trips to Baltic countries Customer profile women, age

10 STRENGTH AND OPPORTUNITIES Location Diversified transport connection Variety of travel facilities Affordable prices Culinary and beer heritage Spread of RU language Visa centers in 14 Russian cities Nature (flora and fauna) MICE tourism development Popularization among individual tourists Popularization of unique service - Amber SPA Extending the average duration of the trip Change the perception of the destination and reposition it as an attractive EU country Diversify traveler profile and attract young active travelers

11 MAIN OBJECTIVE New concept NEW LITHUANIA : Modern diverse destination offering all types of leisure travel Europe is so close

12 OUR APPROACH Social Media and E-Marketing Public Relations Consumer promotions Advertising Travel Trade Marketing

13 MAIN ACTIVITIES

14 MAJOR OBJECTIVES IN DEVELOPING TRAVEL TRADE Attract MICE agencies (to fulfill low season) Attract more agencies to sell packages to Lithuania Stimulate packages diversification (amend with active, health and SPA tourism) Try to push the destination to bigger TO specializing on Eastern Europe and former CIS destinations Promote Lithuania as a transit destination to Western Europe (to connect Ryanair)

15 Travel trade Seminars and Presentations (road show) Travel agent training sessions were held in 4 cities (Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Vologda, Cherepovets) The advantages of the destination and news were introduced by LTO The new product, bus tours, were introduced by the tour operator company 80 persons participated The feedback was very positive TRAVEL TRADE ACTIVITIES

16 ACTIVITIES TO ATTRACT POTENTIAL TOURISTS Launch and support of LT pages in social networks: FB & VK

17 ACTIVITIES TO ATTRACT POTENTIAL TOURISTS Social media competition Best vacation in Lithuania (photo contest) Info was placed on main travel web cites Growth of traffic to LT page The feedback was very positive

18 More than 100 online and offline publications in Q1- Q PRESS AND PR ACTIVITIES

19 PRESS AND PR ACTIVITIES

20 PRESS AND PR ACTIVITIES

21 PRESS AND PR ACTIVITIES Press trip for 1 Federal Channel Main Russian governmental channel CHANNEL ONE RUSSIA Coverage 15 mln. Viewers

22 UPCOMING ACTIVITIES Upcoming activities for Q4 2013: Social network campaign Advertising campaign in consumer magazine Advertizing article in B2B magazine Social network competition MICE fam trip Press trip (spa) Trade webinars Trade seminars Trade and media newsletters Press-releases

23 UPCOMING ACTIVITIES TRAVEL GUIDE copies Up to 300 full colored pages Pocket-size More than 300 distribution channels all over Russia 44,9% distributed in Moscow

24 UPCOMING ACTIVITIES Seminar for MICE agents Business breakfast for MICE agents 20 participants Place Lithuanian Embassy Joined event with one of the DMC

25 Lithuanian fest in social networks UPCOMING ACTIVITIES Social media follow up of the Lithuanian fest in huge moll in Moscow end of September Photo competition in social networks (photos should be taken during the fest) Announced in different blogs and social media pages.

26 Thank you