It's no secret that Russia's vast oil exports have led to a rise in the income and standard of living of most Russians. As a result, analysts have watched the expansion of the country's middle class to be what is today one of the biggest consumer markets of the world today.

Russian consumers are now more than ever ready and able to consider spending money on international travel - and the Otdykh LEISURE Moscow travel-trade show is where the international community has the opportunity to vie for a piece of the Russian outbound tourism pie.

At last year's event alone - spread accross a 19,000 square meter exhibition area at the IEC Crocus Expo - over one thousand local and international exhibitors presented their products and destinations to some 76,000 visitors to this event that is presented in the context of the Moscow Autumn Travel Industry Week. Some 117 countries were represented last year with booths or stands at Otdykh LEISURE, from India to Dubai, Spain to Sri Lanka.

With Russians discovering an increase in air travel - much as Europe has done in recent years - city break and short visits from Russia are also set to increase here with the development of more and more low-cost carrier options.

Given the high prices in large Russian cities, tourists are also out there spending money - much of the time taking off on short shopping vacations. Outgoing Russian tourist expenditure has also been on the rise, in 2006 alone accounting for 16.1 billion USD.

But the point behind this fair is represented by the by figures revealed from a study by Euromonitor International, which discovered that the main purpose of 84 percent of total travel departures from Russia was in fact, the leisure market.

Russians traditionally travel to the Mediterranean Sea resorts for summer holidays, and to Slovakia, Switzerland or some other European destination in winter, the report reads, and leisure tourists spend more money on their longer trips abroad.

While figures differ from country to country, the average expenditure on holidays continues to rise - be it internal or international travel.

Russians are also looking to travel during their winter vacation, both for longer and shorter holidays. Some will travel to the Far East for sun vacations, while European destinations continue to be popular for skiing and other sport-oriented trips.

Analysts maintain, however, that in the future destinations like China, Vietnam, Tibet, Africa or Latin America or specialized travel will feature more in the Russian's travel plans.

"It is already common knowledge that Russian outgoing travel market has been increasing its importance worldwide in a vertiginous way," said Karin Luize de Carvalho, Director of the Brazilian Tourism Board in Frankfurt, attending Otdykh LEISURE, "This has also been true to Brazil where the number of Russian tourists has grown more than a 120 percent in the past years."

Otdykh LEISURE Moscow 2008
Dates: September 23-26, 2008
Venue: IEC Crocus Expo
Address: Moscow Ring Road 65-66
City, Country: Moscow, Russia
Contact: Ms. Ekaterina Kohlhauser
Email: leisure@euroexpo-vienna.com
Telephone: [43] 1 230 8535
Website