OREANDA-NEWS. The development prospects of this country's travel destinations became the focus of discussion at the expert meeting arranged by Moscow Domodedovo Airport. The Travel Across Russia! Development Prospects for Domestic Destinations round-table conference attended by the aircraft industry, travel industry and mass media representatives took place in Sochi.

The participants set for the event to this country's main resort “on the wings” of Red Wings Airlines from Moscow Domodedovo Airport early in the morning - there were two days of intensive and exciting work ahead. Sochi was selected as the meeting site for a good reason - it is one of the Russian destinations, the potential of which improved greatly last year, first of all, due to creation of a new infrastructure for the XXII Olympic Winter Games, which improved the region's tourist appeal.

“Sochi passenger traffic increased by 24% in 2014 y-o-y, and almost 40% travelers selected Moscow Domodedovo Airport for flights to this destination. This indicator reflects one of the most remarkable and interesting trends on the Russian market: the passenger traffic has obviously shifted to domestic air transportation in recent months. This segment expanded by 15% in the first four months of 2014, having almost doubled on last year's indicators,” pointed out Alexey Yarosh, Marketing Director, Moscow Domodedovo Airport, in his speech. 1,085,345 passengers used Russia's biggest air hub for domestic flights in January/April 2014, a 15.7% increase on 2013.

Experts, including top managers of Transport Clearing Company (TCC) and Basel Aero that manages a number of airports in the southern region, provided no less valid arguments in support of changes on the domestic air transportation market at the round-table conference. For instance, according to the data provided by Marina Bukalova, Vice President, TCC, the domestic traffic did not exceed 35.5 mln passengers in 2012; this indicator grew to 39 mln persons in 2013, and 12 mln persons were transported domestically in the first 4 months of 2014 - taking into account that the high season begins in June and lasts till October. Sochi, Krasnodar, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Rostov-on-Don were among the leaders of the Russian most popular destinations rating.

Rapid rates of passenger traffic in Russian destinations are noted by air carriers, too. For instance, the flight program of Red Wings that chose Moscow Domodedovo Airport as its base airport largely includes regular domestic flights - over 137,000 passengers preferred travelling with this airline in January/ April 2014, a 106.6% increase y-o-y. Thus, Red Wings Airlines proved to be the leader among Russian companies by the passenger traffic growth rate.

“Scheduled flights are the priority business line for Red Wings Airlines. We are expanding the route network actively - and Sochi, a traditionally popular destination for Russian tourists, was added to it. The region's development enables to create the entirely new all-season product, and we are partnering with the travel industry successfully, by offering both package tours and only flights,” noted one of the round-table conference participants Evgeny Kliucharov, General Manager, Red Wings.

Experts call the aggravating foreign economic environment, growing exchange rates, instability in the most attractive countries, such as Egypt and Thailand, among the factors influencing the segment of domestic airlines' flights. At the same time, the domestic destination development projects are being implemented, facilitated, in particular, by the governmental program of subsidizing the flights to Far Eastern destinations as well as large sports events.

“I believe that the current meeting was conducted at a high level and was a success. Importantly, representatives of all entities that determine the quality of travellers' recreation and, consequently, growing popularity of the country's travel destinations took part in the dialogue. It is by joint efforts of a travel company, airports and an air carrier that a high result can be achieved,” concluded Yury Blaze, Head of Domestic Tourism Division, Coral Travel.

Greater market demand for domestic flights demonstrates the wide tourism development prospects in this country. The round-table conference arranged for by Moscow Domodedovo Airport became the venue for the unique dialogue that enables to elaborate the most appropriate package of offers in this segment. The integrated resources of leading tour operators, airports and air carriers of this country allow travelling with comfort.

Moscow Domodedovo Airport is the largest air hub in Russia, and in 2013, its total passenger traffic amounted 30.76 million people. It falls into the category of the largest airports in Europe and is among the top three fastest growing airports in Europe according to the ACI Europe classification. It is the best airport in Russia and the CIS as rated by Skytrax. Moscow Domodedovo Airport is the base airport in Moscow for member airlines of the largest global airline alliances - Star Alliance and oneworld.