Federal Media Review

The number of summer tour early bookings has increased, in average surpassing last year’s rate by 15%, Dmitry Gorin told RBC. “Early booking promos started practically in November-December. Leaders in popularity are still the same: Russia, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Tunisia, etc. Stable rate of exchange and minor price correction facilitate it. The main specialty is that we started booking in advance and thus spare up to 20% of tour cost,” said he. (Details from 1:00 min.)

The Governor of Krasnodar region Veniamin Kondratyev announced the region’s willingness to subsidize air travel in the low season to the resorts of Anapa and Gelendzhik. According to him, there are already the first agreements on the route St. Petersburg - Gelendzhik. The project is expected to be launched in October 2020. Dmitry Gorin believes this will increase the demand for Krasnodar resorts by 20-30%. “The main problem of both tour operators and hoteliers is related to stimulating demand for the season “wings ”in April-May and October-November. If air tickets are more accessible during these periods, this will help boost sales of package tours and increase the load of accommodation facilities. Potentially, the audience that can take advantage of such subsidized routes is large. These are families with small children, older people, tourists interested in wellness programs and weekend tours,” he told ATOR. (Read more) 

Dmitry Gorin discussed hot travel topics with the hosts of the “Evening RBC” program on the Serebryany Dozhd channel: from reaction of tour operators to coronavirus to the reopening of Egypt. “For us as travel operators, and tourists, it is important to have Egypt open year-round, because flights to Cairo, alas, are more expensive and longer in travel logistics. Everything is ready for reopening, the only question is the aviation security protocol which should be signed in the near future. And after relieving the restrictions, travel companies can make new flight programs to Egypt within a month. This will be especially in demand in the autumn-winter and spring periods,” he said on the air. (More from 8:00 min.)

The Russians began generally changing their vacation plans because of the coronavirus news. This is stated in the study of the service Rabota.ru which is quoted by Gazeta.ru. Travelers try to avoid countries bordering China. On the other hand, as Dmitry Gorin notes, Southeast Asia has lost Chinese tourists. Previously, a huge flow of 10-12 million people a year went from China to the region. Now the countries are trying to replace it, attracting tourists from other states with appealing offers. (Read more)