Exhibitors at this year’s Russian Summit are already reporting inspection trip visits despite a small drop in the number of Russian agents attending the event compared with 2010.

Georgina Reilly, director of Select Resorts reports that two agents she met at the event have already booked clients to visit in January.  

“Despite not having a Russian speaker in the company, we’ve signed contracts with five agencies.  So far we’ve got two inspection visits booked.  The agents seem motivated and are asking lots of questions.  The offer of economic citizenship and visa-free travel is obviously very appealing to the Russian market” she says.

Participants from more traditional lifestyle destinations also did well.  Clare Coombs, Marketing Manager of Home Espana who sell property on the Costa Blanca is confident about doing business from the event.

“Success doesn’t come over night in any new market but the event was a fantastic launch platform for us. We have seven or eight very strong agent contacts and we’ll definitely do business from it.  We have a number of clients already booked to come over in January for the Russian New Year”.

Tatjana Tosic, Director of Sales & Marketing, Dubrovnic Sun Gardens agrees:

“We already have two contracts signed and are negotiating terms with a number of other agents from Moscow.  We will definitely make some sales.  We would have liked to have seen more agents there but the quality was excellent which is most important”.

Although many participants like Select Resorts, who did not bring a Russian-language speaker expect to make sales, the companies that do best could be those who brought a native speaker with them.

Ian Marsh, Consultant for Golden Park Egypt is a case in point.

“We have a dozen or so strong agents who we expect to sign contracts with.  There were not as many agents there as last year but the quality was extremely good.  Having our new agent manager Dasha with us who speaks Russian made a real difference as the agents preferred meeting the person who was going to be managing them”.

Coombs also believes having a Russian speaker was key to making the most of the Summit.

“It sounds obvious but having Russian speaker was essential for us.  Quite a few people have said great you have someone who speaks Russian, I’ll tell my friends” she says.

Official figures from co-organisers aiGroup confirm that the number of Russian agents was down slightly from 128 to 94 compared to 2010, despite 221 registrations before the event.

aiGroup director Kim Waddoup comments:

“Although numbers were slightly down on 2010, the quality was certainly better.  This year we worked very hard to cut out the time wasters so we were more selective with our invitations.  The percentage of people who attended was also slightly down but as we provided everyone with the list of people that could not make it, I think the value we provided was better than the first show”.

Waddoup is planning a number of innovations with the format for 2012.

“Based on delegate feedback, we plan to put on a gala dinner the night before the event and invite a few key Russian agents.  We also plan a conference aimed at the Russian agents where after a keynote presentation, overseas delegates will be able to provide short elevator pitch of their products” he says.

Russian Summit 2012 will take place on 22nd & 23rd November.