14ymedio, Madrid, 23 January 2024 — Mexico is trying to recover Russian tourism through Cuba. The new effort consists of offering tourist packages that sell both Caribbean destinations together, as detailed by Darío Flota Ocampo, of Enjoy Travel Group, which specializes in this sector.
“A phenomenon is happening in Cuba; it is receiving European travelers, specifically Russians, who due to the conditions of the flight blockade in Canada and the United States no longer come to Cancun but are arriving in Cuba. With a daily air connection between Havana and Cancun, there is a good possibility that Russian wholesale agencies will find a way to get to Cancun from Havana,” said Flota Ocampo, who was also director of the Tourism Promotion Council of the state of Quintana Roo.
The Russians are, in his experience, a market with high purchasing power, but the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions have made it difficult for Russians to travel abroad due to the reduction in flights
The expert explains that the Russians began to arrive in Cancun years ago, causing a real tsunami in the tourism sector, which began to hire guides who spoke Russian and to translate their promotional material into Russian. Even the restaurants translated their menus, he says.
The Russians are, in his experience, a market with high purchasing power, but the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions have hindered their trips abroad due to the reduction of flights, in addition to some other measures linked to banking.
“We want to recover this important market for Mexico, since the Russians stopped coming but now are traveling again. However they prefer going to Cuba, because they know the place, but since it’s a long trip for them, they can take advantage of another destination in the Caribbean,” he insists.
To do this, the travel agency is developing in parallel the promotion in Cuba of the Mexican Caribbean destination and a “multi-destination program” to go from the Island to Mexico, extending their trip. Russians, according to the tour operator, usually stay for a long time when they fly to the continent, at least three weeks on average, whic