Berlin, Munich and Vienna are particularly popular with customers from Russia; in winter, of course, the ski areas in Austria and Switzerland. “The really wealthy Russians come by private jet themselves,” says Kugler. In Germany preferably via the special airport Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich. “And as long as the visas are not withdrawn, they can also travel.” Actually, Kugler would have flown to Moscow on Thursday to give a presentation there – the trip did not take place, of course. The two bookings by Russian customers for this spring have now also been cancelled.
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Customers from Russia make up between two and three percent of the entire luxury goods market worldwide, estimates Marie-Therese Marek, luxury market expert at the management consultancy Bain. How the war in Ukraine affects the global luxury market now depends heavily on the duration and development of events. “More likely are immediate and significant impacts on local personal luxury spending in Russia, which is heavily driven by the devaluation of the local currency and the current restrictions in place,” says Marek. “Furthermore, Russian luxury spending abroad – mainly in Western Europe – will also fall drastically as long as the closure of European airspace to airlines from Russia is in place.”
