23 September 2005 – The Philippine Embassy in Moscow reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Philippines is deepening its inroads in the Russian outbound market as a Pacific island-paradise by participating for the second straight year at the four-day 11th International Leisure (Otdykh) Fair, which opened on 20 September 2005 in Moscow.

The Philippines, which continues to welcome tourists from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in record-breaking numbers, is seeking to attract even bigger figures with a larger stand for the popular exhibition, called Otdykh-Leisure for short, the country's largest travel event in autumn leading to the peak winter travel season.

"Russia is the latest addition to the DOT's priority markets", said Eduardo A. Jarque, Jr, Department of Tourism assistant secretary for tourism planning and promotions. The top markets currently are China, Japan and Korea.

Apart from the DOT, which was backstopped by the Frankfurt-based DOT regional office led by Venus Tan, the Philippine delegation is joined by Congressman Edgardo M. Chatto, chairman of the tourism committee of the House of Representatives, and representatives of major Philippine tour operators, resorts and spas.

Between January and July 2005, Russia and the CIS led all markets in terms of comparative percentage growth, with the number of tourists rising by 154 percent from the same period in 2004, comfortably ahead of China, one of the fastest growing markets in recent years.

In absolute figures, this represents more than 5,370 tourists from the former Soviet Union in the given period, which effectively breaks two records: it has eclipsed the previous all-time record of 3,945 in the total number of arrivals from the CIS in a 12-month period set in 1998; and has exceeded the DOT's own rosy projections for this year just a little past the half-year mark. Comparatively, there have been more tourists to the Philippines from Russia in 2005 than tourists from the more mature markets of Spain, New Zealand, Austria and Belgium.

The Philippines' marked its participation last year by winning the 10th edition's Best Debutant award. Tourism is one of the brightest areas in RP-Russia bilateral relations. The Russian Federal Tourism Agency (FTA) has said that 26,082 Filipinos visited Russia in 2003, 2,755 more than the previous year - a trend that continues to this day.

Approximately 1.5 percent of 150 million Russians travel abroad, according to FTA figures. According to Russian Federal Customs, 6.5 million Russians took overseas holidays in 2004, a figure that does not include business travelers. During the same period, Russia welcomed 23 million foreign tourists, making it one of the 10 top country destinations.

According to the latest available data by the Russian Association of Travel Agencies, the top markets for outbound Russian tourists in the first half of 2004 are Turkey (505,064), China (390,299), and Egypt (307,411). In Southeast Asia, Thailand is the far and away leader, which is traditionally the second most popular winter destination worldwide for Russians. END