Tourism officials from Paphos will visit Russia next week to attend a travel exhibition with the aim of attracting more Russian visitors to the town next season.

While Paphos regional tourism board head Nassos Hadjigeorgiou stressed that UK tourists are still the coastal town’s primary market, he underlined the need to cover the gap left by falling tourist arrivals.

“We are not abandoning the British market in any way and we are still focusing on them, but there is a continuing trend of reductions in the numbers of arrivals from the UK market and we must try to cover this deficit with visitors from other markets,” he told the Cyprus Mail. The Paphos tourism board and Paphos hoteliers association will attend the travel exhibition in Crocus, near Moscow, from September 21 to 24. “We will all be on one stand representing Cyprus, and we aim to promote Paphos as a winter destination for leisure travelers for the coming season,” he said. In addition, the Cyprus team will meet with the four main Russian tour operators to glean any information that could boost the numbers of visitors choosing Paphos as a holiday destination.

Hadjigeorgiou pointed out that each market has ‘specific needs’ and that Paphos would adjust the promotion of the local tourist product to fit the Russian holidaymakers. “For example, we know Russian visitors favour good quality beach hotels, they like eating out at good restaurants and enjoy high quality entertainment both inside and outside the hotels.” The local tourism chief said he had also noted Russians enjoying participating in Russian Karaoke nights whilst holidaying in other countries. “They also enjoy open air facilities such as lounge bars and so on.”

Meanwhile, Hadjigeorgiou pointed out Russian tourists had contributed to some recovery in the Paphos tourism market for 2011.

Last summer 25,000 Russians visited Paphos, he said, and that number is expected to have doubled this season. “Latest figures show Russian clients are the highest spenders per head and I’m optimistic that although there are no secure conclusions forthcoming from the tour operators as yet… the situation will be better next year.” According to Hadjigeorgiou, in addition to the Transaero airline flights currently linking Paphos to Moscow, a number of Russian tour operators may also keep some of their flights open during the winter season.

The Paphos tourism board will in future also target the Ukrainian, German, Dutch and Belgian tourist markets, he said.