|
THEY do not speak a word of English and may be extremely demanding.
But money is no object - whatever they want, they will pay - whether it is a helicopter ride to get a bird's eye view of Singapore or a yacht to sail to Bintan.
Say 'zdravstvuite' (Russian for 'hello' and pronounced strav-st-vee-tia) to the Russian tourists.
Compared to the Chinese and Indonesians who are Singapore's biggest group of visitors and a visible presence on the tourism landscape, the Russian tourist is a rare sight here.
There were 35,262 visitors from Russia and former Soviet Union states between January and October this year. Compare this with 1.64 million Indonesians and 911,931 Chinese.
Despite their small numbers, Russian tourists have great spending power, said Mr Victor Yam, managing director of UniGlobal Holidays, which has the Russian market as its core business.
His company brings in 80 per cent to 85 per cent of all Russian and ex-Soviet state tourists. The rest come with Tour East Singapore and East West Executive Travellers.
'These people can pay and are willing to spend a lot, which is good for Singapore,' Mr Yam said.
Case in point: 70 per cent of his customers stay in five-star hotels such as the Sentosa Resort, Swissotel Stamford and Sheraton Towers. The rest go for at least four-star properties.
Moscow-based fund manager Igor Bogorodov, 43, says when he goes on holidays with his family, budget is the least of their considerations. 'I like to go to special places with history and where I can see both the modern and old.'
Another Russian tourist, aviation engineer Vadim Dmitzievskie, 49, takes at least 10 holidays a year. This year alone, he has been to Denmark, Italy, Britain, Tanzania, just to name a few places, spending as much as US$8,000 (S$11,640) on just one trip.
This is his first time here and Singapore's modernity and green cityscape have caught his eye.
Travel agents who deal with Russian tourists say they often make unusual, and often very expensive, requests.
A few have asked for a private boat to take them to the Equator; others want a helicopter ride to get an aerial view of the city; some demand their own personal yachts to take them to Bintan or to nearby islands.
Some even want to hire a Ferrari to pick them up at the airport and drive them around town.
Not all these requests are met, Mr Yam said, but 'whatever they want, they'll just pay. They never ask how much'.
To cater to these tourists, Mr Yam has 12 Russian-speaking staff who pick up the tourists from the airport, get them settled at their hotel and are also at their beck and call at all hours.
Ms Olga Kostetskaia from UniGlobal said the older Russians do not speak English and the agents end up having to do almost everything for them. Even something as simple as a hair-dryer breaking down in the hotel room at 2am will see the guest calling the agent's hotline. An employee on hand will deal with the problem for them.
Some hotels are taking the initiative and having menus translated into Russian. At Sentosa Resort and Spa, there are customised menus in Russian for the spa, rooms and restaurants.
Its spokesman said the resort has repeat visitors who want to escape the bitter Russian winter.
The Singapore Tourism Board said the Russian market is one of three emerging markets it is looking at to grow tourist arrivals.
The other two are Vietnam and the Middle East.
The number of Russian tourists grew by about 21 per cent over the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period last year.
weichean@sph.com.sg
|
