Exploiting the tourism potential of Russian visitors to Malta

Abstract

The Russian outbound tourism market represents an enormous economic and business opportunity for many countries; Malta being just one of these. This study is set out to point out those obstacles that might hinder Russian visitors from coming to Malta. In order to increase the flow of Russian tourists, the study is orientated towards Russian visitors, culture, trends, push and pull factors. To seek whether or not Malta has the potential to attract a higher market share of this market qualitative analysis was adopted. From the three units of measurements analysed; accessibility, bureaucratic procedures and services provided were found to be the key determinants. However, the data analyses outcome unraveled other underlying issues. These issues also resulted as being correlated to the three aforementioned determinants. All this suggests that much of the data revolved around Brand Malta which, in turn, somehow is being distorted. It seems that Malta is struggling amongst fierce competition and political systems that render the track more winding than it seems. Consequently, all this entails a perseverant attitude of Maltese tourism stakeholders that aim at realistic target segments of the Russian tourism market.