Outbound Russian travel lifted by just shy of 13% to the end of Q1 2018, according to research from m1nd-set’s Business Intelligence Service (B1S).

 

The findings, which are based on shopper insights data for the top 25 travelling nationalities, provide further evidence to retailers that confidence in Russian travel – and spending – is returning, following the Russian Federation’s protracted economic crisis (2014-2017) and rouble devaluation.

 

M1nd-set says the positive trend is set to continue over the coming 12 months, with a forecast +9.2% rise in international air travel.

 

CONFIDENCE SLOWLY RESTORING

This seems to correlate with official data from Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviation.

 

Between January to April this year, Russian airlines handled 30.3m passengers – an increase of +11.9% year-on-year.

 

According to the most recent April data, Russian airlines carried nearly 8.2m passengers – a rise of almost 10.1%.

 

Such encouraging results do not mask what has been a significant impact on air transport patterns during the aforementioned crisis period.

 

The severity of the economic crisis was compounded by the intensifying threat of terror attacks and associated geopolitical challenges in countries such as Turkey and Egypt, which affected a shift in Russian travel destinations to countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy.

 

Asian destinations such as Japan and China, meanwhile, are considered the safest place to travel to, continued m1nd-set.

 

Europe accounts for 75% of the outbound Russian air travel market, with growth in outbound travel to the region rising by more than 11% in the past year.

 

Conversely, outbound travel to Asian destinations grew by less than 2%.

 

When it came to Russians’ shopping preferences at home and away, online spending – particularly via Chinese e-commerce platforms – is growing.

 

Non-Russian ecommerce sites now account for 25% of Russian online spending, the research outlined, with Russian travellers opting to explore foreign online travel agencies rather than use domestic ones.

 

In airports, Russians are tempted by perfumes, confectionery and alcohol, yet the results differ dependent on where the purchases are made.

 

At Russian airports, more than 60% claim to purchase alcohol, just under 50% buy perfumes and less than 20% pay for confectionery.

 

However, the buying complexion changes when Russians travel abroad, with 45% purchasing confectionery in foreign airports, while alcohol and perfumes are bought by 46% and 32%, respectively.

 

Crucially, the average spend is more than 30% higher in foreign airports than at home, with alcohol and perfumes claiming the largest share of Russian travellers’ wallets at home and abroad.

 

ELECTRONICS POPULAR OVERSEAS

 

For foreign airports alone, electronics take the highest share of spend, while jewellery and watches are the chosen categories of purchase at Russian airports.

 

Pricing and value remain the top purchase drivers at Russian airports, followed by instore experience and gifting.

 

At overseas airports, gifting and availability of exclusive and unique products are the top two purchase drivers.

 

Pablo Saez Gil, Head of B1S, m1nd-set said: “Our research reveals that Russians are very partial to purchasing new and innovative products and are constantly on the look-out for opportunities to purchase them whether in duty free, domestic or online shops.

“Both novelties and product variety are of high importance to Russians and they tend to notice new products far more than the average global shopper. Family values are also very important to Russian consumers and they tend to purchase more for family members than average compared to shoppers globally.

“They find shopping more tedious than the global average however, so the importance of the in-store experience is particularly high for Russian shoppers to improve their overall perception of shopping.”