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

Market Data – Russia

2009 2010 2011

GDP (US$trl at PPP) 2.22 2.31 2.41

Real GDP growth (%) -7.8 4.3 4.3

Population (m) 141.9 141.7 143.1

GDP per head (US$ at PPP) 15,300 15,900 16,750

Unemployment (%) 8.4 7.5 6.8

Inflation rate (%) 11.7 6.9 8.9

Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (EIU) 2011 (June); CIA World Factbook, World Bank

Facts & Figures

Area

Population

Capital & Largest City

17,075,400 km2

143.1 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.

MARKET OUTLOOK

Since 1995 there has been a positive trend in travelling to foreign countries from Russia. 2012 arrivals: 15, 3 mln (+6% vs 2011)

MARKET OUTLOOK

Outbound Traffic Growth in Russia (Number of departures in Mln) 1995 – 2011

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

FREQUENCY OF TRAVEL

FAVORITE DESTINATIONS

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

MARKET OUTLOOK

Internet Penetration 2007-2011 (in mil users)

30 35,3

38,4 41,5

61,6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

– 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 Trends

MARKET OUTLOOK

TOP 10 countries for outbound tourism for Russia

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

MARKET OUTLOOK

TOP 10 in 2012 -Tourism

1 Turkey 2 516 136

2 Egypt 1 906 637 3 China 1 328 850

4 Thailand 885 113 5 Spain 792 084 6 Germany 713 096 7 Greece 690 412 8 Italy 570 764

9 UAE 549 382 10 Finland 512 547

• 2012 outbound tourism : 15, 3 mln (+6% vs 2011)

• Lithuania 2011 – 148,3 Russian tourists

• Lithuania 2012 - 214.3 Russian tourists (+44,6%)

• Lithuania Q1 2013 – 51,5 Russian tourists (+16,6%)

• Lithuania 2013 forecast – 278 Russian tourists (+30%)

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 35-60

STRENGTH AND OPPORTUNITIES

Location MICE tourism development

Diversified transport connection Popularization among individual tourists

Variety of travel facilities Popularization of unique service - Amber SPA

Affordable prices Extending the average duration of the trip

Culinary and beer heritage Change the perception of the destination and reposition it as an attractive EU country

Spread of RU language Diversify traveler profile and attract young active travelers

Visa centers in 14 Russian cities

Nature (flora and fauna)

MAIN OBJECTIVE

New concept “NEW LITHUANIA”:

Modern diverse destination offering all types of leisure

travel

Europe is so close

OUR APPROACH

Travel Trade Marketing

Advertising

Public Relations

Social Media and E-Marketing

Consumer promotions

MAIN ACTIVITIES

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)

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

ACTIVITIES TO ATTRACT POTENTIAL TOURISTS

Launch and support of LT pages in social networks:

FB & VK

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

ACTIVITIES TO ATTRACT POTENTIAL TOURISTS

PRESS AND PR ACTIVITIES

More than 100 online and offline publications in Q1-Q2 2013

PRESS AND PR ACTIVITIES

PRESS AND PR ACTIVITIES

PRESS AND PR ACTIVITIES

Press trip for 1 Federal Channel

Main Russian governmental channel “CHANNEL ONE RUSSIA”

Coverage – 15 mln. Viewers

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

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

TRAVEL GUIDE

11 000 copies

Up to 300 full colored pages

Pocket-size

More than 300 distribution channels all over Russia

44,9% distributed in Moscow

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

Seminar for MICE agents

Business breakfast for MICE agents

20 participants

Place – Lithuanian Embassy

Joined event with one of the DMC

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

Lithuanian fest in social networks

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.

Thank you