Russia is not ready for Provence

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   At the end of the past week Moscow saw the presentation of the program ‘2006-the year of Сezanne in Provence’. Travel opportunities of the French province was presented by Ann-Mari Bernard, Communications Director, and Isabelle Iffler, Manager of Promotion for the Committee of tourism in the Provence region including the Alps and the Cote d’Azur. The purpose of the event was to demonstrate the region’s potential which according to the organizers of the presentation is quite impressive and attracts the interest of Russian holiday-makers. Provence hopes to compete with such popular resorts as, for example, Nice and Saint-Tropez all the more so as group trips to these regions are very similar: within 1000 euros.
   Meanwhile, the players of the French destination practically in unison declared that Provence has only a slim chance of competing with Nice in the nearest 5 years according to demand on the Russian market. ‘It is very unlikely our market is ready for Provence as an independent tourist product’, believed Victoria Zhenchevskaya, one of DSBW directors. ‘This without doubt is not a mainstream destination’. Specialists of the French department of ‘Russian express’ company agree with this opinion: a Russian holiday-maker is conservative and is unlikely to willingly go to an unknown place.
   From their perspective, French tourist authorities try to promote a new destination for Russia. In particular, on the 25th-26th of October Moscow will host a workshop of the House of France. However, according to the Russian market participants there should be more such events. ‘Instead of advertisements for hotels and stunning views of the regions we need arranged programs, for instance, from Paris where there are direct flights from Moscow’, says Nikolai Sokolov, a senior manager of French destination of ‘Roza vetrov’. Information about the region in various mass media could increase interest to Provence. Operators express their hope that the activity of the regional travel committee will be partly oriented towards this result.