FACEBOOK and Twitter could hold the key to luring more Russian tourists to Cyprus, according to a recent study of Russian holidaymaker’s web browsing habits.
The study, conducted by market research firm MASMI, indicates that despite Russian tourist arrivals having already reached 213,682 this year – up from 148,740 in total for 2009 – Cyprus might was still being outperformed by other destinations like Turkey, Egypt and Ukraine when it comes to luring web-savvy social networkers.
After surveying 329 ‘web empowered’ Russians, Cyprus came ninth out of 24 holiday destinations yet it came 23rd in the list of countries they actually visited.
MASMI CEO Nicos Rossides said: “Only 10 per cent of those considering the island as a destination actually come here… so Cyprus is not making the most of opportunities to attract Russian tourists.”
By contrast, Ukraine enjoys a 68 per cent conversion rate, followed by Belarus (47 per cent) and Turkey (45 per cent).
Rossides said: “Several factors could account for this, including costs, distance and ease of obtaining visas. However, Italy and Austria – both higher-cost markets with visa requirements – enjoy better conversion rates than Cyprus, so other variables such as feedback from travellers on social media sites might have a significant impact.”
The findings are significant given Russia’s heavy use of social networking sites. According to another recent poll by the research firm ComScore, Russia has the most engaged social networking audience worldwide.
John Fotis, a social media tourism researcher at Bournemouth University who collaborated on the project said: “Social media are becoming increasingly important in tourism. For example 82 per cent of US online consumers checked web reviews, blogs and other online feedback for their travel-related decisions.”
The study also found that 73 per cent of Russian respondents visited social media sites when planning their trips, and 63 per cent used such websites when they considered alternative destinations.
In addition, two out of three respondents made changes to their holiday plans based on information they found on social media websites.
Top sources of information for Russian online consumers were reviews provided by other travellers in various social media websites (76 per cent), friends and relatives (64 per cent), travel shows/documentaries (45 per cent), and official websites (41 per cent).
As far as trust in the information was concerned, the views of friends and travellers were trusted three times as much as travel agents’ advertisements. Moreover, almost seven out of 10 agreed that they trust information about holidays provided by other travellers in various websites.
“The fact that Cyprus enjoys high consideration but can do better in converting potential visitors from Russia is a significant finding,” adds Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Established Chair in Tourism at Bournemouth University.
“We look forward to exploring how tourism stakeholders in Cyprus are responding to the new reality imposed by social media in the next phase of our research.”
In the coming months, MASMI will begin interviewing key Cypriot tourism stakeholders.
