Moscow, December 15, 2003. VAO Intourist has won the Tourist Travel Brand 2003 prize in the Best-Known Tourist Travel Brand 2003 category and declared the best travel company for professionalism in approaches to brand-promotion concepts by the Brand Expert Panel. Bidders for the prize were appraised based on a poll of Moscow residents who were asked to name the best-known trademarks and logos and a poll of managers of Moscow’s 600 travel firms who offered their views on the significance and weight of companies in the tour market. Their appraisals were reinforced by marketing communications experts who spoke out on the efficiency of promotional techniques. Winners were named on the basis of these composite returns. The award ceremony was held on Thursday, December 11. Leonid Korsik, acting VAO Intourist President, was presented with a commemorative prize and a certificate listing the company’s brand promotion achievements in 2003. VAO Intourist is a multipurpose company with priorities in several business areas, such as outbound, inbound and domestic tourism and transportation services. The company has many years of experience in providing tour services, including one-stop travel and transportation services and services for participants and guests of business functions in Russia and at any place of the world. VAO Intourist is a company that cherishes its image and gives its customers top reliability and security on their travels. More than 200,000 Russian citizens avail themselves of Intourist’s tour and transportation services on vacation in and beyond Russia. In outbound tourism, Intourist is a leading tour operator. The high professional skills of the company’s managers and its extensive relations of partnership with foreign and domestic companies equip it for any tasks, no matter how challenging. Consolidation of charter programs and the company’s own quotas of airline seats are a guarantee of high quality of the company’s tour products. Its far-flung network of more than 800 partners providing it with agency services and its own network of 25 booking offices around Moscow allow the company to boost its scale of operations and win over a growing share of the market. VAO Intourist is a member of leading international tour organizations, in particular WTO, RATA, ICCA, PATA, ASTA, JATA, UFTAA/FUAAV, IATA, COTAL, and AIT.