The Russian International Tourism Market
As this market hardly existed prior to 1990 it has developed exceptionally fast and in many ways, has not followed established, 'normal' patterns that have been experienced in other countries.

As International travel become available to Russian people there was an initial wave of mass tourism. Some destinations, especially Turkey and Egypt were fast to encourage this market and on the last decade and managed to maintain their market share.

Russian visitors are now firmly established visitors in destinations around the world. They are known and respected for their high spending power and therefore make welcome guests.

The last years have shown an emergence of several large Tour Operators(mostly based in Moscow) to specific destinations however a large proportion of the total tourism business remains firmly in the hands of small travel agents scattered throughout these vast regions. Fortunately there is no one company dominating the market.


As the market matures one has seen European style marketing appear and the unfortunate result is that many packages are now only sold on price.

However Russia is large and many regions are also now developing well. The Russian is a prolific traveller taking many more vacations than many Europeans. The key to the market is through the consumer or client. Creation of product awareness is essential for success. International Leisure World Magazine has been specifically created to assist International Tourism suppliers to create the necessary awareness of their services.

Advertising and editorial articles in this publication will be well read by both the Travel Trade and the consumer ensuring a superb return on investment.

The Russian Economy
Every day one reads about positive news of the Russian economy and most of these are confirmed by International professionals.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year 2004 has now been raised for the third time to 5.4%. The economy grew 7.1% in the first months of 2004. This means that the Russian economy is set to grow to more than $.410 billion a fifth year of consecutive growth.
The positive GDP Growth and a now stable economy result in a positive real disposable income growth. Russian disposable income increases by more than 11% per year with salaries increasing on average by 15.8% in the first quarter of 2004. Sales of cars in Russia are increasing as are luxury goods and travel.