Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, head of the Russian Tourism Agency, has promised the French his help in promoting Club Med in Russia.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Club Med Eyes Sochi Destination
French hotel chain Club Med is interested in building a ski center in Sochi, the company said Thursday. Sochi’s Krasnaya Polyana resort may soon compete with ski destinations in Bulgaria and Turkey if investors build world class-level infrastructure in the region for the 2014 Olympic Games, experts say.
“Club Med is going to consider opportunities to set up a complex in Sochi or another city of the region by the 2014 Winter Olympics,” Club Med’s President Henri Giscard d’Estaing told reporters in Moscow after meeting the Russian tourism agency’s chief Vladimir Strzhalkovsky. Mr. d’Estaing added that the project will most likely build a ski village with the all-inclusive system.
The head of the Russian Tourism Agency has promised the French his help in promoting Club Med in Russia. “We are interested in large international brands,” Mr. Strzhalkovsky said. “Russia will be able to attract Club Med’s clients from all over the word.” Henri d’Estaing also said Club Med has got vast experience of running ski facilities in Winter Olympics sites after competition finish.
Club Med was set up in France in 1950. The company operates in more than 40 countries running 120 holiday villages and 12 villas in Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia, Australia and the Caribbean region. Club Med provided services to 1.33 million tourists in 2006, 8,000 of them were from Russia. 60 percent of the firm’s 600,000 loyal customers come from Europe.
There is quite a lot of medium-size land plot around Sochi which would be able to accommodate hotels, says Marina Smirnova at Colliers International. But demand on them is not high. “An average Moscow hotel is occupied up to 75 percent while in Sochi the figure is 45 percent,” she says.
Travel agencies say that Russian ski resort do not draw any European tourists at the moment. However, ski season in Sochi lasts up to four months, and Club Med’s village may attract European tourists. “At $150 to $200 for a double room, a plenty Eastern European tourists will be coming,” Alexander Arutyunov, president at the Intourist travel agency, told Kommersant. “If rooms are priced at ˆ300, people would prefer Austria or Switzerland.” Other experts add that a ski resort also requires a developed infrastructure. “If we build all of this, Krasnaya Polyana will be no worse than ski resorts in Bulgaria and Turkey,” says Leonid Isakovich, president the Academservice travel agency.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 20, 2007
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