Federal Tourism Agency wants to promote vacation in Russia via Alibaba

The Federal Tourism Agency is interested in promotion of vacations in Russia on internet sites of Chinese online retailer Alibaba, head of the agency Oleg Safonov said in an interview with TASS as part of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) "We plan to hold a meeting with the management of Alibaba. The fact is that Alibaba is interested in the Russian travel market. Their audience is huge, it would be interesting for us in terms of promoting our tourist product on the Chinese and other markets where they operate," Safonov said. It was Alibaba that initiated such talks but the meeting that was to take place on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum but was postponed, the head of the agency said. So far it is not clear what kind of partnership in tourism between Russia and the Chinese retailer will be discussed. Alibaba has already carried out some tourist projects with other countries. For example, a stand of Malaysian tourist sector is presented at Alitrip website. Malaysia and Alibab Group have created a joint venture in this industry.