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Año VII - Nº 75 - Agosto | August | Août - 2012
TRAVEL
Fuerteventura and Lanzarote united in the search for direct flights to Russia The Tourism councillors of the islands are working with the Russian tour operator Nathalie Tours. Right now, Russia is the largest emerging market in Europe and the spending level of their visitors is quite superior to that of other countries. However, only the island of Tenerife benefits from direct flights with this country. Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are now getting closer to getting the same after contacting NT Incoming, the representative of the Russian tour operator Nathalie Tours. Months of work It all started a few months ago at the Moscow MITT fair in March. This is where conversations started, which have intensified in the search for definitive agreements with the Tourism councillors of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, Blas Acosta and Carmen Steinert. “We want to present an option that will complement the current offer that Nathalie Tours operates in the Canaries because we are aiming for 110 million people to find out about Lanzarote and Fuerteventura’s wealth and peculiarities”, says Carmen Steinert. Blas Acosta on the other hand detailed the work that has been carried out until now: “The contacts to create a direct aerial connexion between Fuerteventura and Lanzarote and Russia started in March during the Moscow MITT fair. This is where we laid the bases for this project which, if it materialises, will create a very attractive line of work for our islands’ tourism sector”. The Russian tourist If this agreement was to materialise, it would have very a positive outcome for the islands. Indeed, the profile of the Russian tourist represents a person who has a spending power which is higher than usual visitors of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Furthermore,
FOTO: MARCELO
FMHOY - Fuerteventura
Russian tourists tend to extend their stay on average three days more than other tourists. The impact of the Russian market in the destination of the Canary Islands is another positive indicator as far as direct flights are concerned. Between 2010 and 2011, the presence of Russian tourists in the Canarian Archipelago increased by 51% and especially in Tenerife. Amongst the tourists who visit the Canary Islands, Russian tourists spend the most with an average of 160,46 Euros compared with 119,16 Euros for usual tourists. Also, this is the kind of tourist whose average stay lasts 12,8 days compared with 9,52 days for
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the others. Those figures mean that for each trip a Russian tourist will spend 1.845,9 Euros, whereas the average tourist spends 1.014,9 Euros. As for the profile, it is important to point out that they like to travel all year long although they prefer to travel in summer. On the other hand, they tend to stay in four star hotels on half-board basis. As for the age, Russian tourists who visit the Canary Islands tend to be between 25 and 45 years old. Finally, as an anecdote, we should point out that 87,5% of Russian tourists choose the archipelago for its good climate, while almost all of them, 95,2%, confirm to have had a good or very good impression from their trip.