Advertising Plans of Goa

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   In spring Goa plans to provide advertising support to Russian tour operating companies specialized in Goa. Charles Bonjfatio, the President of The Hotel Association of Goa, in the interview to a BANKO correspondent, said that in April or May it is scheduled to accommodate image advertising of the resort in magazines targeted at customers. According to Bonifatio, the budget defined for the advertising campaign is $12, 000. Therefore, Russian companies do not express much enthusiasm regarding the Indian initiative.
    ‘The allocation of funds for advertising in Russia has been discussed for a long time, but only a few projects were realized, while India spends colossal money on promotion in other countries’, said Ksenia Ogienko, Tourism Director of UTE Megapolus group. Moreover, promotion of Goa is less interesting for Russian travel companies than several years ago when the destination was being developed. Travel market players are much more interested in the increase of prices for local hotels stimulated by tourist flow growth (in 2004/05 season there were 145 charter flights to Goa from Russia, while there were only 11 of them three years earlier). According to Elena Zelenina, Development Director of Deo, prices in some hotels do not conform to the quality: ‘In spite of the fact that hotels in Goa are being renovated and reconstructed, an ex 3* hotel can not convert into a 5*’.