Bad weather and high prices have reduced the interest of travelers to the resorts of Crimea

The situation with delays of flights of VIM-Avia airline and bad weather reduced the interest of Ural tourists to the resorts of Crimea in June 2017. Sales of such tours are lower by about 20% compared to June 2016, but by the end of the summer the decline may be even more significant.

“The peak of sales of tours to Crimea fell last year. This was caused by interest in resorts, hot weather conditions, the introduction of preferential air travel and closed Turkey and Egypt. But many tourists were disappointed with the high prices and low quality of service, so in 2017, the share of bookings of Crimea decreased. Low demand helped in the situation with VIM-Avia flights: the airline canceled flights, and tourists were transferred to other aircraft or returned money to them in a short time. The precedent with VIM-Avia created fears among tourists about holidays in Crimea, which were exacerbated by bad weather at resorts in June. Therefore, at the end of the summer, against the background of these factors, as well as high demand for Turkey and other foreign resorts, we expect sales in the Crimea to decline by more than 30%, said O. Gular, director of the Winter-Summer group of companies.

Prices are not in favor of Crimea either. The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) notes that “average prices for tours to Turkey with a round trip flight in the first half of 2017 amounted to: hotels 3* (with AI food systems - UAI - here and thereafter) - 52.1 - 54.2 thousand rubles for two for seven nights, hotels 4* - 61.7 - 71.5 thousand rubles, hotels 5* - 83.6 - 90.7 thousand rubles. Similar in terms of conditions and duration tours in Russia on average cost: in hotels 3* (with food systems BB (“breakfast only”) and AI – here and thereafter) – 50.1 and 73.4 thousand rubles, in hotels 4* – 60.9 and 81.6 thousand rubles, and in hotels 5* – 86.4 and 114.8 thousand rubles, respectively. Thus, hotels in Russia 3* and 4* with breakfast in the first half of the year cost about as Turkish “treshki” and “four” with “all inclusive”, and Russian hotels 5* with breakfast even at average prices were 3 thousand rubles more expensive than their Turkish counterparts with All Inclusive.

In order to ensure the growth of tourist flow, Russian and, in particular, Crimean resorts need to seriously improve the service and develop infrastructure. Tourists are willing to pay, but the quality of the tourist service should not be inferior to the Turkish. Investments are needed, but not at the expense of tourists – the introduction of fees for vacations at a number of resorts within the country, and fees for traveling abroad will only harm the market, Golyar said.