According to the topic newspaper “Tourinfo” the company “Grand Baikal” was included into the number of the biggest tour operators of Russia and in ten largest regional tour companies of Russia. It should be reminded that “Grand Baikal” stays in the list of leaders of Russian tourist market for five years in a row.

As it is noted in the final table, in 2008 the company revenue went up to 437 million rubles, having exceeded the corresponding indicator of the last year by 30 %. The number of clients has increased in comparison with the year before the last by 28.6 % up to 38.5 thousand people. “Grand Baikal” turned out to be the only Irkutsk tour operator included in the rating.

In “Tourinfo” editorial devoted to the creation of the rating method it is noted that Russian travel agencies were offered to fill questionnaires specifying their total revenue for 2008, number of clients (sold tour packages - hotel accommodation and the ticket, and airplane and railway tickets sold by the company). To increase degree of data reliability there were accepted questionnaires assured by the stamp and the signature of the tour agency head or the chief accountant. In some cases when the data caused doubts, it was required to provide confirming financial documents.

According to the newspaper, in Russia there operate about 1 000 tour operators with annual sales over $1 million and no more than 300 operators and agencies with a widespread sales network or having sales higher than average (more than $2-3 million per year).

“Grand Baikal” company press-service