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Russia Seeks To Address the Key Areas of Frustration for Hoteliers
Moscow, October 24th, 2011 Horwath HTL, the world’s largest hotel consulting network, hosted a plenary session on Investment Opportunities in Russia’s ‘500k Club’ those 37 regional cities with a population of more than 500 thousand inhabitants. The session, part of the Russia and CIS Hotel Investment Conference was led by Michael O’Hare, Managing Director of Horwath HTL Russia and Hungary and featured Georg Folian, CFO Warimpex Finanz-Und Beteiligungs AG, Anatoly Kuznetsov, President and CEO, Korston Hotels and Malls, Tony Potter, CEO Corinthia Hotels and Sergey P. Shpilko, Chairman Moscow City Government for Committee on Tourism and Hotel Industry in Moscow The discussions centered on the key issues to doing business in the new Russia; visas, transport infrastructure, hotel standards, training and finding staff and Casino’s. The Visa issue remains a thorny problem and is the single biggest frustration to hoteliers in the region. It’s a challenge because the EU has a reciprocal Visa issue which means that it could potentially take years to resolve, However the 72 hour visa in St Petersburg and the success of the Visa waiver in the Ukraine has shown that initiatives like these can have a big impact on the local market. Sergey p. Shpilko from the Moscow Tourism office said that they were well aware of the problems and were doing all they can to find a short and medium term solution to the crisis. Israel and Egypt are two countries with Visa waiver schemes that have proven to be real drivers of business for the tourism industry. Airlift is also a hot topic, with no open skies agreement currently making Russia an expensive place to fly, although there are some arrangements with low cost carriers from Germany. The panel agreed that one solution would be to improve competition amongst the airlines, in the same way that there is competition amongst the many international hotels in the key cities. Investment in the airports is also a key priority and the new Aeroflot terminal at Sheremetyevo was presented as a great example for future investment. With all of these frustrations, Tony Potter made the point that it was important to herald the huge steps that Russia has made in the last 15 years. “Every major city has issues of not enough money for marketing, crime and infrastructure problems, this is not a Russia specific issue, but we need to give them credit for the incredible strides that have been taken in only a few years” Michael O’Hare said, “The fact that we were able to talk to the Minister here shows that there is commitment at the highest level for addressing these issues and solving them. They have already made great strides in improving the rail services internally and opening up the country for those who can’t fly and it needs to carry on with the improvements step by step. We welcome the invitation to start a closer co-operation between the industry and the local government and look forward to helping facilitate that.” About Horwath HTL Horwath HTL (Hotels Tourism and Leisure) is one of the pre-eminent consulting specialists in the hotel, tourism and leisure industries, providing unequalled experience and expertise for client projects around the world through a combination of detailed local knowledge and international understanding. Horwath HTL is currently the world's largest consulting organization specialized in the hospitality industry, with 50 offices in 39 countries. Horwath HTL is a member of Crowe Horwath International, a professional association of accounting and management consulting firms founded in New York in 1915. Crowe Horwath International is currently ranked among the top ten international professional service groups with offices in close to 400 cities in 88 countries. For more information, contact Michael O’Hare on mohare@horwathhtl.com or James Chappell, Global Marketing Director of Horwath HTL at jchappell@horwathhtl.com
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