Tag Archives: Russia

VFS Global has signed a contract with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic for providing visa services in 10 countries worldwide. As per this new contract, VFS Global will now provide visa services for Slovakia in China, India, Kazakhstan, Palestine, Belarus, Russia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt through 38 visa application centres. The rollout of all these new operations is expected to be completed by December 2018. Under the new contract, VFS Global will accept both short and long-term visa applications on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic. Chris Dix, Head – Business Development, VFS Global, said, “We are excited about our new partnership with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic. The countries where we will be operating are markets where VFS Global has worked for several years and whose travellers are familiar with our services and expertise. We are also pleased to have the opportunity to serve our new clients in new locations, and bring applicants in these locations the same benefits and high-quality service that we have been offering our customers worldwide for the last 17 years.”

Golden Sands Hotel Apartments is looking forward to an increased share of travellers from Russia after a successful roadshow in St Petersburg and Moscow. The team of Golden Sands Hotel Apartments joined the 2018 Dubai Tourism Russia Roadshow held from September 3 to 6, where they received great interest from travel agents and tour operators who were interested to learn about the services offered by mid-scale and budget hotels, including hotel-serviced apartments. “The Russian market is an emerging market for Golden Sands Hotel Apartments. The trip to two major cities in Russia opened a huge opportunity for the property. We received a huge number of enquiries and interests from the travellers from Russia who are looking for more affordable deals and value-based option. Dubai has traditionally been a popular tourist destination among Russians and majority prefers the beachfront properties when staying in Dubai but we saw a new segment of visitors who are willing to stay in city hotels that offer shuttle buses to take them to the beach and other popular attractions in the city,” the team said. Visitor numbers from Russia visiting Dubai have continued to rise, delivering 405,000 visitors for the first half of 2018, a growth of 74 per cent over the same period in 2017, according to figures released by DTCM. Mohammed Khoori, General Manager, Golden Sands Hotel Apartments, said, “We hope to get a share of the market, especially the Russian travellers. Based on the feedback received from our participation in the Russia roadshow, we look forward to reaping the results of our hard work this coming tourism season.”

The number of Russian tourists travelling to the GCC in 2020 is expected to be 38 per cent higher than the arrival figures recorded for 2016, according to data published recently by Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2018, set to take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 22-25, 2018. As the UAE has started granting visa on arrival earlier last year, there has been quite a rapid growth of Russian tourists to Dubai. Looking at the economic drivers, the value of the Russian rouble is stable and firming gradually, helped by Russia’s decision to join OPEC and cut oil production. Over the last 25 years, Russia has been well represented at ATM, with exhibitors including Moscow City Government, National Tourist Union and the city of St Petersburg. Russian visitors to the exhibition increased 17 per cent YOY between 2016 and 2017 and 9.4 per cent of total visitors last year were interested in doing business with Russia. Russia’s links with the GCC strengthened in 2017 with the introduction of additional airline routes, visas on arrival in the UAE for Russians, new generation of leisure attractions, retail destinations and a broad range of hotels and resorts across the GCC region.

With its recent announcement of strengthening more flights to Russia from November 29, flydubai will further increase their network to Sheremetyevo. This will increase the airline’s frequency to the Russian capital to double daily with the existing service to Vnukovo International Airport. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer, flydubai, said “We are excited to offer our passengers more options to access two different points of the Russian capital. The launch of our new daily flights to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport is based on the increase in demand for more affordable and reliable direct links to the UAE and beyond.” Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President Commercial (UAE, EU, ME, CIS) for flydubai said “Russia continues to be a very important market for flydubai. Our commitment is demonstrated by the increase of our operations to 11 points and 47 weekly flights to the Russian market. We are also looking forward to increasing our frequency to 52 weekly flights from mid-December to provide our passengers with more convenient options for travel to and from Dubai.”

Leading Russian tour operator Natalie Tours held its 12th Annual Congress at Atlantis The Palm in Dubai. The event brought together over 200 CEOs and owners of Russian travel agencies with the best sales performance in UAE during the past year. The meet was hosted under the patronage of Gocha Buachidze, Consul General of Russian Federation in Dubai; Ahmed Khalifa Al Falasi, CEO of Support Services, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing; Vladimir Vorobiev – President, Natalie tours; among other dignitaries. The event awarded the best sellers, discussed further cooperation with top managers of retail companies, motivated its partners to promote the travel direction and increase sales of Natalie Tours’ services in the UAE. The top players of the Russian tourist market expressed confidence that the plans had every chance to be implemented. According to the tour operator, the major factor driving up the demand for UAE tours is the abolition of entry visas for Russian citizens that came into effect last February.

Russian guests jumped by 49 per cent from January to August as compared to the same period in 2016. A roadshow to Moscow and St Petersburg led by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism resulted in a surge in visitors into the emirate from Russia. Sultan Al Dhaheri, Acting Executive Director, Tourism Sector, Department of Culture and Tourism, said, “Since visa restrictions were lifted on our Russian visitors at the start of the year into the country visas now granted on arrival, we have witnessed an upsurge into the emirate, both from Russia and from counties within the Commonwealth of Independent States, with both markets together showing significant growth.” Leading Russian tour operators, travel agents and trade partners were representatives from key partners in Abu Dhabi. The delegation included Etihad Airways, Rotana Hotel Group, Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Intercontinental Abu Dhabi, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Hilton Abu Dhabi, Emirates Palace, St. Regis Abu Dhabi, Sheraton Abu Dhabi, Le Meridien Abu Dhabi, Yas Viceroy, City Season, Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi and Gromaxx Hotel Management.

flydubai will double its operations to Russia for the upcoming winter season. From the end of October, flydubai will operate 40 weekly flights to 10 points in Russia. This year the airline will add Makhachkala, Voronezh and Ufa to its existing network in the country that includes Kazan, Krasnodar, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Samara and Yekaterinburg. Jeyhun Efendi, Senior Vice President Commercial (UAE, EU, ME, CIS), flydubai, said, “We are pleased to increase our services to Russia as Dubai increases in popularity among Russian travellers. Since 2010, flydubai has been committed to connecting previously underserved points in Russia with Dubai. With three more routes and our additional flights, we look forward to offering tourists from Russia more choice and flexibility when travelling to Dubai.” The airline presented its seasonal offering at the Leisure 2017 Exhibition that opened in Moscow where it is participating for the third time in partnership with Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM). This year, the UAE has seen a growing demand from Russia after changes to visa requirements enabled passengers to get a free 30-day visa on arrival to the country. Travel from Russia to Dubai grew by 97 per cent in the first six months of 2017, according to Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM). flydubai operates flights to 97 destinations in 44 countries, including popular routes among Russian travellers, such as Dubai (UAE), Bangkok (Thailand), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Kathmandu (Nepal) and Zanzibar (Tanzania). Passengers can also benefit from flydubai’s interline agreements with other carriers, providing opportunities for onward travel to more than 200 destinations.

Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) reported a 12 per cent year-on-year growth over the first two months of 2017, which saw Dubai welcoming just over three million visitors, nearly four times the rate of the previous year. Supported by growth in all key markets, China and Russia in particular drove the volumes and set the stage for a strong first quarter result. This period witnessed a 60 per cent growth in overnight tourists from China with January alone peaking at a dramatic 102 per cent, while attracting a total of 157,000 Chinese visitors across just the first two months. Reflecting an even more significant percentage increase, Russian visitation jumped 84 per cent over the same period last year with February delivering a massive 140 per cent volume increase to bring a total of 65,000 travellers in the first two months. Consequently, both contributing countries moved up in their rankings as key source markets for inbound tourism to Dubai with China entering the top 4 for the first time and Russia moving to just outside the top 10, up 4 places from 15. His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General, Dubai Tourism, said: “As we continue to invest in raising consideration for Dubai as the destination of choice for global travellers, our focus at Dubai Tourism is equally on increasing Dubai’s accessibility and removing barriers to travel by working closely with partners and stakeholders in the public and private sectors on both a federal and emirate level. Ultimately our collective aim is to make it as easy and seamless as possible for any prospective tourist from our diversified base of source markets to visit and revisit Dubai. We …

Turkish Airlines has added two new destinations in Russia — Voronezh and Samara. The national carrier is going to increase capacity in Russia by operating 3 flights per week between Istanbul–Samara and Istanbul-Voronezh instead of Astrakhan and Novosibirsk which are currently operated as two flights per week.  Istanbul-Voronezh v.v. flights will be launched on 4th April 2017 and Istanbul-Samara v.v. flights will also be launched on 11th April 2017. Special round-trip fares are available for Istanbul-Samara starting from $159 and for Istanbul-Voronej starting from $189 (including taxes).

Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has approved Cabinet Resolution No (24) for 2017 on granting citizens of the Russian Federation visas at all UAE’s entry points. The resolution states that citizens of the Russian Federation are to grant a 30 days entry visa at first time, renewable one time only for another 30 days, and subject to applied UAE regulations. The resolution will enhance strategic co-operation and the common ambitions of the two countries. It will also create new horizons of economic and touristic co-operation serving common interests and goals, as it strengthen the UAE’s international competitiveness as a vibrant economic, commercial, and tourist hub in the region. Official information shows that Russia and the UAE have always benefitted from a strong bilateral relationship in all aspects. This cooperation appears in the strategic partnerships between the two countries, and the various agreements covering economy, tourism, and clean energy co-operation. The UAE ranks first in the GCC states as Russia’s most important business partner, and is considered the tenth largest foreign investor in Russia, with projects valued at Dhs66 billion up to 2014. During 2015, the non-oil trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dhs9 billion, and the UAE is investing around Dhs18 billion in infra-structures in Russia. The average growth of foreign non-oil trade between the UAE and Russia over the past 5 years is 31 per cent. The UAE has received more than 600,000 Russian tourists in the past two years, and there are 56 weekly flights between the two countries by UAE National carriers. This number is expected to rise after the issuance …