The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) is holding a workshop at St. Petersburg, in Russia, on the 24th September 2012. This will bring together a dozen of Tour Operators, Hoteliers, Travel agents, as well as Mauritian Tour operators which are already working in St. Petersburg.

The Association of Tour Operators, Attitude Resorts, Sofitel, Lux Islands Resort, Sega Tours, Burnas Beach Resort Co, Mautourco, Veranda leisure & Hospitality, Luxe Voyage Ltd and Solis Indian Ocean will be present at the workshop.

Mr. Vijaye Haulder, deputy director of the MTPA, accompanied by the Mauritian delegation, will meet the press, Russian tour operators and potential travel agents. Moreover Mr. Vijaye Haulder will seize this opportunity to talk about the 2013 promotional campaigns in partnership with some Russian operators.

The objective of this workshop is to confirm the presence of Mauritius in the Russian market, establish good relationships with Tour operators and the Russian press. But most importantly, the MTPA will sell the destination and increase the visibility of the island in Russia. It should be noted that Russian tourists are ‘luxury’ ones, who spend huge amount of money in the hotels where they stay during their holidays.

The Russian market is a very important for Mauritius and this work session will also aim to identify the different segments in this market such as golf, marriage among others.

It must be noted that it is the second consecutive year that the Office of Tourism is organizing this workshop. Since the first edition, there has been a remarkable increase in the number of tourists coming from Russia. From January to July 2012, 14,448 Russians visited the country, which represents an increase of 72.8% compared to the same period in 2011.