Moscow: major consolidation in business travel
One of the most recent moves within the
TMC market has seen Carlson Wagonlit Travel sell its wholly-owned Russian subsidiary to local company Vipservice earlier this year, with Vipservice becoming a member of CWT’s global partnership network as part of the deal. Dmitry Gorin, Vipservice’s general director, says: “This is certainly a historic event for both sides. The partnership deal with the leading global agency is yet a further step in the implementation of our five-year strategy to build the number one TMC in the Russian travel market.”
HOTEL PRICES REMAIN HIGH Despite continuing economic headwinds, travel prices in Russia remain high – Moscow continues to have the world’s highest hotel prices with an average room rate of £265.96 per day in 2016, despite the rouble’s fall in value over the last few years. Tatiana Veller is head of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group in Russia and CIS
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
(Commonwealth of Independent States). She says: “The market in the Russian capital is still riding high, gaining volume of rooms sold in most [hotel] segments, and rates in some.” With Russia hosting next year’s football
World Cup tournament from June 14 to July 15, it’s unlikely prices are going to go down any time soon – even though Moscow has a strong pipeline of new hotels being built. According to hotel data company STR,
the Russian capital currently has 3,500 rooms under construction across 16 projects, and ranks only behind London and Istanbul in Europe for the number of new hotel developments.
AIRLINE CONSOLIDATION Airfares to Russia are also staying relatively high – helped by consolidation, such as Aeroflot taking over collapsed rival Transaero, and reduced competition as some carriers have cut routes – Easyjet
suspended its flights from Gatwick to Moscow in 2016 due to “a significant and sustained reduction in demand for travel”. As a result of these moves, flight prices are expected to rise by 4 per cent this year, according to CWT and GBTA (Global Business Travel Association). Aeroflot has capitalised on diminishing
competition with an 11 per cent rise in passenger traffic last year as capacity on flights to 52 European destinations rose by 5.7 per cent. The airline has added daily flights between Gatwick and Moscow Sheremetyevo as well as more capacity from Heathrow – increasing its weekly schedule from London to 32 flights. This growth is continuing with a Moscow-Lisbon service due to start this month (July). “Aeroflot remains on track to deliver
on our 2025 strategy goals, envisaging Aeroflot in Europe’s top five carriers by revenue and passenger traffic,” says Alexander Lukashin, the airline’s head of international media relations.
BBT July/August 2017 85
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