How to attract tourists to a travel agency. How to attract tourists? – We create a beautiful story. What distinguishes the Azerbaijan brand from other eastern countries, for example, from Turkey, which also focuses on hospitality, natural diversity, centuries-old cultures

In order for the Russian province to become tourist attractive, full cooperation between the authorities and business and the population is necessary.

This was discussed by the participants of the Interregional Tourism Forum “History of Russia in Small Towns” held in Kostroma.

Today there are about 700 small towns in the country, but only a few can be considered interesting for tourists. The Association of Small Tourist Cities, for example, includes only eight members: Azov, Dmitrov, Elabuga, Kungur, Myshkin, Suzdal, Tobolsk and Uglich. In addition to those mentioned, there are, of course, other tempting “small” points on the Russian map, but in any case these are crumbs in comparison with the total array of opportunities that have not yet been used.

Meanwhile, tourism for the periphery is the most serious, and sometimes the only source economic development. A representative of the small French town of Provins near Paris, Bruno Baron-Renaud, who participated in the conference, named figures that were absolutely fantastic by Russian standards: this town of 10,000 people receives 700,000 tourists annually. Such a record is still unattainable even for the leaders of domestic provincial tourism.

It is well known what problems prevent the Russian tourism industry from soaring and forcing it to crawl. Probably only the lazy did not talk about the poor development of infrastructure. But along with the lack of normal hotels even in the "initially tourist regions“We have, for example, the problem of lack of standardization of hotel services.

Arriving at each subsequent hotel of a similar star rating, you are not sure whether there will be shampoo and slippers. “Everything is completely unexpected and different every time,” noted a member of the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on regional development and local government Svetlana Razvorotneva. A separate problem, in her opinion, is the high cost of transport. Tickets to Baikal or Altai are more expensive here than to London or Rome, which is why tourist flows are redistributed in favor of abroad.

But the main problem, which seriously impedes the development of the tourism business in municipalities, according to Svetlana Razvorotneva, is the banal disinterest of the heads of municipalities. This is one of the consequences of existing inter-budgetary relations, which have greatly narrowed the revenue base of municipalities, since taxes from business activities almost do not reach local budgets.

Cultural and educational tourism brings little return. The most profitable trips are on vacation

The current inter-budgetary system gives rise to dependency, since more than half of the income of municipalities is generated through assistance from higher budgets, the expert believes. - A persistent stereotype is acquired: the worse you work, the more you get. Accordingly, the incentive to do and develop something ourselves disappears.

We are now preparing a serious package of proposals for the redistribution of powers and financial resources in the structure of interbudgetary relations in such a way that a significant share of the revenue side of local budgets remains local. This is an extremely important task,” said Evgeny Markov, president of the Union of Small Cities of the Russian Federation.

But, even if there is initiative and the head small town struggles to find creative solutions to attract tourists; he often prefers to implement large projects, forgetting that a small city first of all needs small programs.

The head of one of the municipalities, which has a unique tourism potential, explained to me this way: if he delivers a plant or large hotel company“, this will be clear and tangible,” said Evgeny Pisarevsky, deputy head of Rostourism, at the forum. - And if you develop entrepreneurship, small hotels, folk arts and crafts, agricultural enterprises that supply products for tourists, the financial result will not be noticeable immediately. All this is true. But we must understand that the development of small and medium-sized tourism businesses primarily leads to the social well-being of the region: people will be busy and employed. They will ensure stability in the region. That is, material and intangible indicators must be harmonized with each other.

According to Evgeniy Pisarevsky, it is, of course, necessary to build large hotel complexes, but the advantage of small cities is that citizens living in urban centers come here to enjoy relaxing holiday in an environmentally friendly and uncluttered space. And these advantages must be emphasized.

However, the seemingly sweet pastoral, especially in its often squalid form today, is in fact very fragile. According to Evgeny Markov, the current processes of concentration of financial and labor resources in several largest cities countries can lead to the depopulation of the periphery and the outflow from there of the most promising, energetic and, most sadly, young personnel who could develop tourism there:

Every effort must be made to prevent the build-up of this colossal process that destabilizes the development of the country - the concentration of resources, globalization, which even threatens the disappearance of the Russian province.

At the same time, small towns themselves must stick together: developing tourism together is much easier and more convenient. Evgeniy Markov is confident that for this purpose it is necessary to form intermunicipal groups of small cities and create transport clusters around them.

Svetlana Razvorotneva also considers weak intermunicipal cooperation to be a hindrance to provincial tourism. According to her, if some town decided to develop as a tourist center, they rarely think about uniting in this endeavor with neighboring municipalities and creating a single program.

And yet the main thing is tourism development territory, according to the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Territory and Planning" Anna Kurbatova, a clear understanding of the potential capabilities of the municipality and a clear idea of ​​what they can bring.

When you draw up marketing strategies for your cities, you must clearly understand what category of tourists you are targeting, how much money these people have and what they will spend it on, she advised regional representatives attending the conference. - Because, judging by the presentations we saw, a very average approach is developing in the regions in terms of the hospitality model.

According to the expert, tourism is, first of all, an economy, and if people come to one place or another, but do not spend money there, then the costs borne by the municipal and other budgets practically remain unrecoverable.

Today we are waiting for government investments in cultural and educational tourism, where we receive relatively little return,” says Anna Kurbatova. - Guests leave much more money during the holidays ( event tourism), but the most profitable type is travel for leisure. And it is in the entertainment and relaxation industry that private funds most willingly go. Therefore, it is necessary to create conditions that encourage investors to invest.

Although a good marketing program, as it turned out, is not a panacea. Solving any one problem out of several inevitably leads to imbalance. An example of this is the Tver city of Vyshny Volochek. Moscow investors and architects were attracted here, large amounts of money were invested, and significant intellectual resources were brought in. As a result, the city received a tourism marketing program, and then even an award at the Venice Architecture Biennale as a city where our historical future is shown based on the Russian context.

But this is a city with a completely degraded urban environment. It does not have any services in terms of recreation, entertainment, or infrastructure. Therefore, starting with communications, the authorities did not achieve results in terms of increasing the economic attractiveness and, in general, the attractiveness of the city as a display object, says Anna Kurbatova.

According to Svetlana Razvorotneva, “one gets the impression that the abundance of monuments in the regions simply turns off the brain” and that our embryonic tourism suffers from targeting a very narrow target audience - “such intelligent ladies of Balzac’s age who know something from history, literature, art and I enjoy seeing churches and museums." Meanwhile, there are practically no offers on the market for children and youth. And where will they come from if most of small historical towns have an unpresentable appearance. Restoration and maintenance of their monuments, including federal significance, at the proper level, alas, it is mainly the municipalities themselves who are doing it within the framework of their meager budgets.

So, according to the deputy head of the administration of the Uglich region Yaroslavl region Elena Kaneva, there are 167 historical and architectural monuments in Uglich, but over the decade the federal budget invested 17 million rubles in them, the regional budget - a little less, and the local budget and investors - more than 300 million.

And this - despite the obvious underfunding from higher budgets - is a concrete example of the triumph of initiative. You can always achieve success if you have the desire. Why, for example, in the Ryazan city of Kasimov, standing on the banks of the Oka, with architectural ensemble no worse than in Suzdal - as a forum participant put it, “emptiness: no souvenir shops, no restaurants, everything is closed”? And in Yaroslavl Myshkin, on the contrary, every ship is greeted with songs and dances, trying to attract tourists to the city. The federal budget is certainly not to blame for this...

The development of tourism programs in cities and regions cannot be achieved only through the efforts of the authorities, sums up Svetlana Razvorotneva. - For these programs to be implemented and work, full cooperation with the business community is necessary and, of course, the public must be involved in these processes. Where this happens, the tourism industry begins to develop. Where this is not the case, all programs developed by administrations remain a stillborn product.

Almost everyone calls tourism development a priority Russian region, but few can boast of real success in this matter. Meanwhile, experts in the field of territorial development believe that regions need to learn how to invest and earn money from tourism using modern business tools. Russian Tourism discussed with experts how to properly attract tourists to the regions.

1. Decide on a goal. The authorities of any region must first decide why they need tourism, I’m sure CEO consulting company "Konkretika" Nadezhda Makatrova. The experience of Chukotka is indicative in this regard. It is obvious that millions of tourists will never come to the peninsula (it is far and expensive for most Russians), so the district leadership has set a very realistic target - two to three thousand travelers a year. The main task of the industry’s development is to occupy local population so that it does not leave for other regions and become an alcoholic, as, unfortunately, happens in a number of Russian regions.

But if the main goal is to replenish the treasury, you need to analyze your own resources and capabilities, the experience of your neighbors, existing demand, supply and decide on the correct positioning. Often regions don’t even need to invent something new; it’s enough to communicate with experts and tourists, find out, for example, on forums, why people most often come to this area, what they photograph, and what they recommend to friends to see.

2. Find differences. Sometimes regional administrations do not find an answer to one of the main questions: how will tourism here differ from tourism in other places? Meanwhile, positioning is the basis that determines the vector of development and helps tourists make right choice. For example, in Altai there are practically no mosquitoes - a significant factor for lovers of outdoor recreation. But this information is known only to local residents and, perhaps, tourists from neighboring regions and is not at all obvious to Muscovites. However, neither the regional authorities nor travel agencies pay practically any attention to this.

“The tourism product being formed should become as understandable as possible for tourists. In other words, people must clearly understand why they should go, for example, to resorts North Caucasus, and not, for example, to Turkey,” says the director of the Agency regional marketing» Anna Dinelt.

3.Choose a slogan. This is another step in positioning the territory. Moreover, the very common “soul”, “heart”, “eyes” and other parts of the body of Russia are not very successful. You should not copy famous slogans from other countries. For example, the slogan “Smile, you are in Spain” when transferred to Russian reality can, at a minimum, cause a comic effect.

5. Don't stop halfway. A successful example of the start of promoting the image of territories can be the actions of two Siberian regions - Omsk and Kemerovo region. In the first case, the authorities took the path of creating an official brand, which has already begun to attract attention to the region. In Kemerovo, the myth about the existence of the Yeti is actively exploited, and journalists and film crews regularly come to Kuzbass to search for it. However, Anna Dienelt admits, these are only the first steps, which must be supported by a strategy: “It’s not enough to invent a logo and slogan. You can print them on a T-shirt, but what next? It is important that the region is included in the competition for hosting international events that can attract tourists.”

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Clients - there's so much in this sound, isn't it? And let your company still be young and take its first steps in the open spaces tourism business, you and your employees have probably learned the most important lesson: the client is our everything!

I would like to immediately make a correction and thereby remove the rose-colored glasses from your eyes: not every client is useful to your company. And, the most important rule that you must learn as an axiom: the best client is a regular client!

That is why, from now on, all your steps should be aimed not only at attracting a flow of clients to your travel agency, but also at correctly filtering out truly promising ones from the total mass, that is, those who will bring you income for many years.

How to attract clients to a young travel agency?

You need to think about this question long before the grand opening - even when choosing a place for your office, because the location of your office very noticeably affects the flow of clients, especially at the beginning: try to find out in advance what the traffic is around your office, what the level of income of the population of nearby houses is and does it fall into the category of “your” clients?

At first, customers are attracted either through street signs and banners, or through advertising on the Internet. Very often it turns out that in a relatively small area several travel agencies, especially if you are in a shopping or business center. And during this period, it is very important that your office is in all respects more convenient for the client than that of a competing company, because competitors should not receive your customers. Shift your schedule so that your work is in full swing and after competitors’ offices close, work on weekends, etc. You need to monitor all the steps your opponents take and be head and shoulders above them.

Main ways to attract

In the process of attracting clients, it is important to learn how to identify promising ones and filter out those who will not become permanent ones. For example, there is a whole layer of travelers who are only chasing discounts - and such people should not be of interest to you, because as soon as they see a big discount in another agency, they will immediately go over to your competitors. Hence the conclusion: there is not the slightest point in trying to retain a client with a discount. And even though many managers are afraid of losing clients without giving a discount, nevertheless, according to the data, such results are obtained only in 20–25% of cases, in the remaining 75% of cases, clients will still remain with you, and those who left, by and large, do not represent no value.

Therefore, you should not rely on discounts. Attract clients with professionalism and reliability. People want to hear advice and get help from someone who understands tourism issues. Show them that you are a pro by telling them about hotels, restaurants and resorts. If your advice is valuable to a potential client, he will become a permanent one for you.

Customer focus. Emphasize that you are not at all trying to sell a tour “more expensive”, but are making sure that your client’s vacation is high-quality. Offer only the best. You must be sure that the tour you have chosen is optimal for a particular client. Therefore, do not waste time on monitoring - you must be 100% sure of what you offer - only then will the client believe you and turn into a regular customer.

A good way to attract clients is affiliate sales- look for nearby places where your target audience “lives” or points of sale, whose clients may be interested in your services one way or another, and collaborate: leave your discount coupons, flyers, certificates or even just booklets there - the effect will not force itself long wait!

And we repeat again: the best client is a regular client. Don't forget this.

A person who makes just one purchase and never returns to you is your defeat. Not only will he barely recoup the money you spent on attracting him, but statistics also tell us that the average check for regular customers is significantly higher than for those who make a purchase for the first time.

How not to lose a client

First, get his contact information. It is best to create a special questionnaire that the client fills out while the manager prepares documents, and then transfer all the data from the questionnaire to the client database.

Secondly, you should always be interested in how the client’s vacation went upon his return from the trip.

Thirdly, it is very useful to remind yourself at least once a month through mailing, SMS, phone calls or by mail (in the form of a discount certificate). There can be a huge number of reasons to remind yourself, often also called the “touch system”. You shouldn’t be afraid to sometimes seem intrusive: experience shows that there are many times more clients lost due to an insufficient number of contacts than due to an excessive number.

How to attract the “right” clients?

Here it is also worth highlighting a few the most important moments. Pay attention to what keywords are in your contextual advertising and modify them a little: instead of “cheap tours” put “ individual tours“or “yacht holiday” or... and so on (choose for yourself), in a word, make your offers more “expensive”.

Look at what phrases your banners and advertisements are full of: if these are offers of last-minute and cheap tours to Egypt and Turkey, then people will come to you accordingly, that is, those who are looking exclusively for discounts.

Promote your agency to a higher level! In addition to Turkey, Egypt and Thailand, there are holidays of a higher level: Bali, Maldives, Seychelles, etc. Don't forget about them! Let your managers not be afraid to sell more expensive types of vacation. Attract the “right” clients to your agency, not freebie lovers.

How to find clients on the Internet

The good thing about the Internet is that you have the opportunity to influence directly your target audience and not waste time on those you don’t need.

The whole point of online promotion should be to lure visitors into the office. The site should not provide an abundance of information - this distracts attention; the site should generate requests and calls to the office, putting the user within strict limits. In order for a client to go from virtual to real, you need to be able to combine 3 components of success on your website: interest + time limit + instructions for action. Don't give the person time to think. Send it directly to your office - the offer is hot! Limited validity period!

Secrets of working with regular clients

So that once your clients buy a tour from you, they don’t forget about you, you need to make them more loyal to your company and turn them into regular clients. It has been proven that attracting a new person is 5-7 times more expensive than retaining an old one. In addition, in the second case, you significantly save your manager’s time, because the buyer agrees to make a purchase faster, because he has already used your services, he already trusts you.

Regular clients are also very useful because they create the so-called “word of mouth” effect - by telling their friends about your travel agency, they, in fact, give you good and quite effective, and, most importantly, free advertising.

Regular customers are those who most actively respond to various promotions and participate in them with pleasure. They perceive your letters not as spam, but as advice from a good friend. It is not clear why work with the client base is still so sluggish in many travel agencies.

Increasing the circle of regular customers

This is the first step to increasing the income of your travel agency. Your potential buyers are all residents of the region who go on vacation at least once a year. All your efforts invested in advertising and marketing efforts should be aimed at attracting potential customers. In addition, you should strive in every possible way to ensure that your current customers literally “work” for you and expand the number of potential buyers: you can offer discounts and rebates not only to regular customers themselves, but also to their friends and acquaintances.

The main asset of a travel agency is its customer base

You need to work with clients, although for some reason many travel agency owners do not understand this. If clients are “abandoned,” then most of them will sooner or later scatter to other travel agencies. Of course, if you work adequately, someone will remain - those who are simply too lazy to change something, but such people, unfortunately, are only a small fraction.

Most clients do not remember which company they bought their previous tour from, because they once came there, bought a ticket and conveniently forgot all the unnecessary details. That's why it's important to develop and implement a clear outline of the steps your managers should take to work with your client base. And, of course, in order for your database to have enough information, you need to promptly and accurately enter all customer information into it.

What should your customer base look like?

First of all, of course, the database should not be in notebooks or on separate sheets of paper for managers, it should be in electronic form. Neglecting this rule threatens you with the fact that sooner or later your base will “leave” after the resigning employee. Although on this moment There are several special convenient programs for working with databases, even if yours, to begin with, will at least be in a table in Excel.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of proper work to attract clients and competent database management. This is the very foundation on which a strong foundation for the further growth and development of your young company will be built.

Where to get tourists from? For an individual entrepreneur who has decided to start receiving tourists, it is advisable to start his business by looking for a tour operator to whom he can offer his services for accommodating arriving tourists.

Owner guest house offers accommodation services for tourists, and also provides voice-over services Additional services selected tour operator. The tour operator, in turn, enters into a joint activity agreement with the owner of the guest house, which specifies the form of remuneration for the tour operator for finding tourists for the guest house. In this case, the owner receives the right to enter into an agreement with other tour operators and travel agents for the supply of tourists. It is recommended to go into detail on these details, since often rural residents are unaware of the responsibilities associated with working with people. Contractual work with an experienced tour operator disciplines the owner of the guest house and provides the opportunity to improve skills in the field of tourism.

Work on creating a tourism product for rural tourism.

In order to attract tourists to a rural family on vacation, it is necessary to offer them a range of services necessary to meet the needs of vacationers. A tourism product is a set of services consisting of accommodation, food, excursion services, insurance and delivery. By the beginning of the year, the organizer accumulates information about what services each guest house can provide. In addition, the tour operator usually develops additional special tours to make the villagers’ offer attractive.

Work to promote tourism products on the travel services market.

Now it is necessary to make sure that potential consumers know about the villagers’ proposals. For this purpose, the tour operator produces advertising information (brochures, descriptions, photographs). The main advertising material is the catalog of rural tourism facilities, which describes and shows each guest house. The catalog is published in sufficient circulation so that travel agencies in various cities can clearly show guest houses to clients. The tour operator also bears the costs of participating in tourism exhibitions and working meetings of travel companies in different cities Russia. The tour operator is recommended to publish a website about rural tourism on the Internet. Thus, information about a rural tourist site can reach a resident of any country. The tour operator is also engaged in external advertising of rural tourism objects, finds funds for advertising on billboards and in various information service centers for tourists.The owner of the property can attract tourists to his guest house himself. To do this, he can put a sign on the road to his house.

Organization of reception of tourists.

Meeting, registration, acquaintance with local conditions. Reservations for a guest house are usually made in advance by a tour operator. Therefore, it is necessary to meet the guest at the agreed place and escort him to the guest house. If a guest arrives on own car, then, having placed his car on a personal plot or in a garage, you should begin the registration procedure. If the guest arrived through a tour operator, then he presents a voucher (developed by the tour operator), filled out by the travel agency and certified by a seal, and a ticket. These documents contain enough information necessary to issue your own receipt - Strict Reporting Form. One copy of the receipt is given to the guest, one copy remains with the owner. Based on this receipt, the owner makes a later entry in his income book. If the guest arrived on his own, the owner asks him to present documents and issues a receipt (BSO), indicating the necessary information. A clear written agreement included in the binding relationship between the guest house and the tourist will significantly facilitate future relations. Next, the owner introduces the guest and his group to the guest house, the rules of residence, fire safety requirements, shows where the keys, trash can, etc. are located. It is also recommended to inform guests about local conditions, travel schedules regular buses, natural objects, cultural and other events.

What is meant by the ability to treat guests attentively and kindly?

The ability to be a flexible Host and quickly make changes to the equipment of the house depending on the composition of the group of guests (install a child’s bed, make ramps for moving a wheelchair, install or remove sleeping places, provide skewers, etc.)

Having an agreement with other villagers to provide additional services to their guests, if these services are not provided centrally

Ability to resolve conflict situations (search for and find the cause of trouble in oneself)

Maintaining a joyful atmosphere in your guest house.

Attention to the slightest request of guests (change a towel once again, dry laundry soaked by a child, make a phone call, etc.)

Ability to take into account any comments made by guests

Striving to improve the quality of services

Accommodation.

Temporary accommodation is the main service provided by all guest houses. Comfort and convenience are the main criteria for the quality of services in the field of rural tourism. Guest rooms and other residential and utility rooms must be kept clean and free of unpleasant odors. If it is not up to the owner of the guest house to eliminate external and internal sources of noise and odor, then guests should be warned about this. IN summer time Windows and vents must have insect screens. Be sure to warn the guest that smoking is prohibited in the guest house. It is advisable to have internal rules for using the guest house (Appendix No. 1), drawn up by the owner.

Nutrition.

For self-cooking, guests are provided with an equipped kitchen. The kitchen must be impeccably clean and have the necessary equipment (kitchen furniture, refrigerator, cabinet for storing food and dishes, electrical appliances). Cooking by the homeowner is not a rental or short-term accommodation service.

Resolution of conflicts and controversial issues.

In any business, conflict or near-conflict situations may arise. Tourists are, first of all, consumers who pay to have a pleasant, interesting, most comfortable and tireless pastime. Near-conflict situations are generated by a significant difference between the expectations of the tourist and his specific impressions received from the trip and accommodation. For example, the cost of guest house services seemed overpriced to the tourist in the absence of the necessary household sanitary and hygienic conditions (no hot water, cold toilet in the yard, etc.). Such situations may arise when the owner receives guests on his own. They do not arise if tourists come from an experienced tour operator or travel agent, who warn the tourist in advance about all the nuances of the guest house. Conflict situations are associated with so-called “difficult” clients, which include overly demanding guests. But the practice of receiving guests in “green houses” in Altai shows that such situations happen very rarely, because the owners of “green houses” treat guests attentively and hospitably.

Guest house owners need to remember that their economy is not a separate entity of the tourism industry. It, like any other hotel, is in close cooperation with the tour operator and travel agent, who are also responsible for their obligations. Maintaining the reputation of a good and reliable partner is the key to the further prosperity of the guest house owner’s business.

Additional guest house services.

The standard set of services in rural guest houses usually includes only accommodation. To attract tourists on the territory of the Altai Republic, a basic set of guest house services has been adopted, the provision of which by the owner is mandatory: accommodation, provision of an equipped kitchen, provision of a bathhouse once (if paid for at least three days of stay), car parking on the territory of the personal plot, greenery from the garden. All these services are included in the price of your stay. Rest paid services are considered additional, which are necessary to increase competitiveness. The composition of additional services is determined by the owner independently, depending on the demand from the client. It is recommended to use such services as “Firing a bathhouse with the provision of a broom”, “Horse riding”, “Sale of farm products”, “Transport services in the owner’s own car (car rental)”, “Use of firewood for cooking barbecue and fireplace” , “Providing a telephone for long-distance calls”, “Placing a guest’s car in the home owner’s garage”, “Accepting dogs (pets)”.

Pricing and mutual settlements.

Prices for guest house services are divided into retail (final for the client) and wholesale (for intermediate links).

Retail prices

If a tourist contacts the owner of the guest house directly, the retail price may fluctuate depending on their agreement.

1. Retail prices must remain consistent at any point of sale if tourists are attracted through travel agents or tour operators. In other words, if the client arrived through intermediaries (from travel agencies, from a tour operator), he should receive the same price information as he received from the intermediaries. In this case, contractual terms are observed and business partners are not “set up.” This is the main condition for all participants in the chain. Subject to the agreement to maintain a single price for the services of the guest house, the flow of tourists is not cut off, since they are systematically dealt with in the cities.

Bulk prices(net prices) for guest house services are billed to tour operators and travel agents who include guest house services in their tourism product. Since it is these partners who are engaged in expensive advertising, they must have income when selling accommodation in guest houses that covers their expenses. This income is called agency fees or commissions in tourism. This is usually 10% of the placement price. Wholesale prices fluctuate depending on the season, on the partner’s contribution to advertising rural tourism, and on sales volume. If the owner of the property has established a strong business relationship with a travel agency that does not forget him and constantly sends clients, then it is possible to increase the reward from 12% to 30%.

This approach is most appropriate: the owner of the guest house develops flexible retail prices for different seasons and includes an intermediary commission, which can be 10 - 30%. These prices are then offered to different firms. In this case, the owner will not get confused, and all his guests will receive the same information from him.

Important: if the owner of a guest house tells guests that he is ready to accept them at a lower cost next time if they come directly, then he is depriving his partners of income, who will eventually find out about this and stop working with him.

Therefore, each guest house owner must decide for himself how he will attract tourists: through intermediary partners or carry out independent advertising activities. Here you need to make a choice. If both types of work are used, then one must firmly fulfill one’s obligations to partners.

As long as the owner of the house is an entrepreneur who does not have a safety certificate for tourist accommodation, he does not have the legal right to advertise his services. Travel agencies that care about their reputation will not enter into contracts with such an entrepreneur, since in this case the safety of tourists is not ensured and, as a result, if an accident occurs with the client, the company that sent the tourist to such a vacation spot will be responsible.

Mutual settlements are made as follows:

1. If a tourist has paid for a trip at a city travel agency, then the tour operator receives money at the cash desk or to his bank account by depositing or transferring Money and also pays the owner.
2. If a tourist comes directly to the owner of the guest house, then the owner is obliged to transfer the due portion of the income to the tour operator.

The basic principle is that payment occurs at the beginning of the tourists' vacation. The owner should take into account that the money received finally becomes earned after the tourist’s departure, if his vacation ends successfully. If the vacation is long, then it is better to take payment in installments. Payment for additional services of the guest house remains entirely at the disposal of the owner of the property; the organizer is not responsible for their quality. This circumstance must be specified in the agreement between the guest house and the tour operator.

Pricing issues are complex and controversial. Therefore, they must be completely clear for both parties. There is a law in economics: whoever earns more bears greater responsibility. When hosting guests through a tour operator, the owner's share is usually much larger than the tour operator's share. Therefore, if a tourist files a complaint (a complaint about service with a demand for compensation for damage), the owner of the guest house will reimburse a large share.

Nadezhda Makatrova

How to attract tourists and become a tourism brand in Russia

If you want the world to change, become that change.

Mahatma Gandhi

Every obstacle is overcome with perseverance.

Leonardo da Vinci

Preface

How can we attract tourists? How not to get lost among thousands of proposals from other cities and countries? How to convince Russians that you can relax in comfort in Russia, and that a small town far from Russian capitals is not necessarily a “hole”?

As practice shows recent years, these questions can be heard at all conferences, round tables and forums dedicated to the development of tourism in Russia. They are also heard during our conversations with representatives of local and regional administrations from different parts of the country. And these questions concern not only officials, but also heads of travel agencies, hotel and restaurant owners, directors of museums, sanatoriums and even local residents who rent out their living space to vacationers...

So what to do? “Take an example from Myshkin!” - this dangerous advice repeated like a broken record by various “gurus”. Myshkin is a wonderful city, but, firstly, its strategy is not suitable for everyone (Myshkin has about 6 thousand inhabitants), and secondly, it is pointless to copy the tip of the iceberg without seeing and understanding everything that is hidden from view in thicker than water.

Three or four years ago, participants in tourism exhibitions representing Russian cities and regions said: “All we need is money for advertising, and people will come to us!” Money was allocated, tourists did not come... Today there is a more professional understanding that attracting tourists is not so much advertising, but a whole task system, which need to be addressed at the territorial level. And this book is a story about who should solve these problems and how, what mistakes and pitfalls there may be, what resources can be used in the work and how to place emphasis. And of course, examples of success.

The book “How to attract tourists and become a tourism brand in Russia” is based on an analysis of the experience accumulated in Russia and the CIS, both successful and unsuccessful, as well as the experience of some foreign countries in the development of tourism and promotion of the territory in the tourism market. In addition, some observations and conclusions made while working on projects of the consulting company “Konkretika” served as material for the book.

This book is methodical, sometimes unpleasant and even offensive, since it tells not only about the opportunities and hidden potential of Russian cities and regions, but also about their typical mistakes and shortcomings. But the main value of the book, in my opinion, is the specific practical recommendations, explaining WHAT need to be done and HOW do, as well as 420 real-life examples, providing rich soil for your own ideas and solutions.

I hope the book will become your assistant in your work. Have a productive reading!

Nadezhda Makatrova,

Director of the consulting company "Konkretika"

Tourism brand: to be or not to be?

Fate leads those who want to go, and drags those who do not want to go.

Cleanthes, ancient Greek philosopher (IV-111 centuries BC)

In the Soviet Union they had not heard of brands. But at the same time, all citizens of our huge and multinational country firmly knew that:

If you want to go to the sea, then you need to go to Black Sea coast Caucasus or Crimea. With small children - to Anapa or Evpatoria;

If there are no vouchers to the Black Sea, then to the Azov Sea, to Yeisk;

The intelligentsia preferred the Baltic states;

If you need treatment, the direct route is to the Caucasian Mineral Waters sanatorium;

For lovers of excursions and cultural and historical values ​​- Moscow, Leningrad, the cities of the Golden Ring and, perhaps, Pskov and Novgorod;

Military-patriotic education - Volgograd with its famous Mamayev Kurgan.

All Soviet people also knew about Baikal and Kamchatka, but they didn’t even dream of getting there - the flight was too expensive for a simple Soviet family to afford. Here they are - real tourism brands, created, by the way, with strong support from the state...

Of course, there were many others in the USSR interesting places and routes - “hits” of the district and regional scale, where excursion groups from schools, universities, enterprises and institutions were constantly sent, but they could not compete with the all-Union “grands”.

25 years have passed since perestroika...

Today, if you look at the MITT or Intourmarket exhibition in Moscow, you can see hundreds, if not thousands, of new tourist sites and routes across the country on stands. One is better than the other, with intriguing descriptions and amazing photographs. It would seem that new times mean new names.

No matter how it is!

Ask an ordinary Russian which cities or resorts in our country he considers the most popular among tourists, and you will most likely receive the same list. True, Crimea and the Baltic states (as foreign countries) will have to be deleted from it, and St. Petersburg will take the place of Leningrad. Allow your interlocutor to include foreign resorts in the list, and Türkiye and Egypt are guaranteed to be in the first place. I'm talking about mass routes. Skiers will usually call it Elbrus, fishermen will call it Astrakhan.

"How so? Why? The tourism potential of Russia is not limited to 10–15 popular routes?! We have two orders of magnitude more of them!” – one of the readers will be indignant. The potential may not be limited, but the perception of tourists, according to the laws of marketing, is, alas, not rubber. The law states: the number of bright, memorable images on the market is limited. I recommend that you re-read the highlighted phrase two more times.

It is only at first glance that it seems that it is enough to come up with “something original” and you will be noticed. You can come up with anything you want, but here’s the question:

– Will they remember this (against the background of competitors’ proposals)?

– Will they buy it (comparing different offers)? And buy not just one season, but at least ten years in a row.

For clarity, I will give two useful analogies.

1. Each class has its own “excellent student,” “low student,” “clown,” “athlete,” and its own “beauty.” And sometimes - your own “outcast” (remember the film “Scarecrow”). It is very problematic to characterize all other children in terms of their role in the class.

2. In the 90s Russian cities A lot of different stores and shops opened, and today most of them have “died”, giving way to online players. By the way, in Europe about 80% of goods are sold through chain stores.

What is the conclusion from this in relation to tourism?

In five years, a new pool of tourism brands of all-Russian significance will be formed in Russia. It is clear that Moscow and St. Petersburg will automatically retain their leadership positions due to their exceptional starting opportunities (just as there are three main TV channels in the country and... all the others). Our resorts will also be in a privileged position. warm seas(unless sudden climate change occurs). And who else will be included in the list of the strongest remains in question for now...

If the heads of the cities and regions mentioned at the beginning had actively developed during the 25 years of perestroika, and had not relied on tourism resources accumulated over previous decades, then everyone else would not be destined to catch up with them in the foreseeable future. However, they remembered the development only 5-7 years ago, thereby giving their neighbors a chance.

The importance of getting into the leader pool is illustrated by the Zipf curve (Zipf)

Picture 1

Zipf distribution (Zipf)

Those cities and regions that find themselves at the tail of this curve may not count on anything serious... Perhaps they don’t need this, and tourism for them is like birch sap in a regular grocery store: they hardly take it, but they have it for assortment .

At the same time, our conversations with representatives of local and regional administrations indicate that in many parts of Russia they take tourism seriously, hoping with its help to give a new impetus to the development of the territory and replenish the budget. For this purpose, short-term and long-term programs are being developed everywhere, new tourism brands are announced, advertising catalogs are printed, exhibitions and presentations are held, journalists are invited, etc.

Why can’t many cities and regions make a breakthrough and significantly increase the tourist flow? What needs to be changed at work? Subsequent chapters of the book will be devoted to a detailed answer to these questions, but here I will only outline the key points.