Dobro pozhalavat', Kovalam says in chorus

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Deserted by its traditional English tourists, Kovalam will have no choice but to adapt itself to the reality of increasing arrivals from Russia to survive as a marquee destination. 'Dobro pozhalavat', meaning welcome in Russian, is one word room boys and valets in Kovalam are striving to get right. Nonetheless, industry insiders have a big fear: The beach destination, which has always prided in being a classy high-end destination, will now have to dumb down in terms of both cost and quality of services to cater to the tastes of low-spending Russians.

In travel circles, Russians are generally referred to as the “epicureans”. “The Russian traveler is so called because his only aim from travel is pleasure, and they want it in the least cost possible” said Jacob Gonsalves, a tourism consultant. “Unlike the English or the Germans, Russians are not experience-seekers,” he added. This also means that Russians will not care for innovative programmes like Responsible Tourism.

“It is hard to get Russians to buy our village life experience packages. They have their fixed normal packages, pre-sold to them long before the trip,” said Rupesh Kumar, state Responsible Tourism coordinator. He had sittings with Russian tour agents to get their clients take the VLE package. The RT project depends on tourists, especially foreigners, to purchase local products like paper bags and kathakali masks. Russians are least interested.

Rupesh then moots a new strategy to lure Russian to off-beat packages. “We should train as many Russian tour guides as possible and use their tour guides to design their travel and stay in Kovalam.” Russian tour guides can also help in bridging the language barrier. “They are defiant when it comes to language. They refuse to speak any other language,” Gonsalves said. The hotel industry, too, are not particularly pleased with the Russians. “They are low-spenders and prefer to be in the beach from morning to evening,” said a top official of a five star property in Kovalam. Still, the industry is grateful as it was the Russians who had come to the aid of the destination when the English charters deserted Kovalam.