Tatarstan calls on trade

More than 80 leading agents from the UAE attended the first ever presentation over the Land of 1001 Delights, organised recently in Dubai by Al Rais Travel, along with TRAVTALK  as the media partner.

TT Bureau

The event kicked off with Mathew Zachariah, Marketing Manager of Al Rais Travel, welcoming all the agents from the UAE for taking time off their busy schedules to discover a new destination, which could be shared among their clients for the next year. He introduced Sergey Ivanov, Chairman, State Committee on Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan, to start off the presentation about the destination, known as the Land of 1001

Delights. The agents were kept glued to their seats as the presentation included some amazing places, attractions, and hotels that visitors from the UAE will enjoy. Ivanov said, “Middle East is a very important market for us, especially with the bilateral ties between the two countries, now we are here in the UAE after making sure that we have the necessary infrastructure to welcome visitors from the UAE to discover and explore our beautiful destination, both locals and expats. For locals in the UAE, they don’t require a visa to enter both Kazan and Tatarstan, expats do need to get a visa, it is much cheaper and can be processed at the Russian consulate within a very short period of time. We have a vast range of places to visit, we are number 3 in Russia in terms of city development, especially for tourists, it’s an ideal place to spend their vacation with the family, especially the children have many areas to play from forests to parks, for those who need to shop, we cater to them and food wise halal certified restaurants and food is available as part of Tatarstan follow Islam.”

Ilia Raevskii, Vice-consul of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Dubai and Northern Emirates, reiterated, that the visa process is simple and can be obtained early. He further explained the documents needed for the expats and mentioned that for Indian expats it’s much easier to obtain the visa from the consulate. The crowd was astonished when he mentioned that if you go early to the consulate to hand over the documents the better chance of obtaining the visa at a much faster time.

Next it was time to learn from Mohamed Jassim Al Rais, Deputy Managing Director, Al Rais Travel, about the experiences of visiting and exploring Tatarstan. He mentioned that as Emiratis, how they look for places that are unique where the distance to walk is less, but more to explore and discover, and he mentioned the word safe several times, and suggested that it is a destination suited both for locals and expats, hence to speak with the partners at the event and see how the destination can be promoted to their clientele. “Tatarstan has a lot to offer our travellers from the UAE, from historical wonders, to traditional locations, natural beauty of the destination with its many rivers, lakes, hills and not forgetting the culinary journey to be explored. We want our agents from the UAE to familiarise themselves with the destination and personally speak with the team from Tatarstan about every aspect necessary for their travellers today.”

Speaking with travel agents, Alan Torres Orong, Travel Manager, South Travels DMCC, shared, “Every time a new destination is being introduced in the Middle East market, it’s always a refreshing idea and exciting 
to embrace when you know that you have something unique to offer to the customers. With the roadshow being held for us, travel partners, it’s a huge advantage to understand the new destination well and to meet potential partners;  and at the same time, to give way the Tatarstan Tourism Board to shake hands with 
the travel agents in the UAE for a fruitful business collaboration.”