Tourists took a pause: they are worried not because of the coronavirus, but because of Turkey

The expectation of reorientation of Russians from foreign resorts to domestic because of the coronavirus is overstated: Russian hotels did not see an increase in bookings.

The small growth, which is noted by tour operators in Russia, according to their surveys, is formed by tourists who have long decided to rest in their homeland.

Tourism “frozen”, and the main issue is not the coronavirus, but the situation with Turkey. If there are problems on the main outbound destination due to military or political aggravation, the flow of tourists to Russia will increase.

We have seen some growth in Russia since February. However, we do not link it to the coronavirus situation. According to our surveys, which we selectively conduct among tourists, these are the people who chose Russia in advance and consciously, says S. Romashkin, director of the tour operator Dolphin.

Growth in Russia may be due to early booking promotions, which end at the end of March - tourists want to have time to buy tours cheaper.

Tourist experts believe that a strong advantage of Russia – prices for domestic tours have not increased. In general, Russia remains the number one booking, Turkey is the number two. Tourists are not particularly responsive to politics. In Russia there is an increase, mainly booked Sochi. Yalta. AnapuSince prices there have practically not increased, says A. Mkrtchyan, director of travel agencies Pink Elephant.

In Russia, prices for tours grew at the level of inflation - 5-7%, that is, a tour of 50 thousand rubles costs 53 thousand, and tourists do not particularly notice this difference. Currency fluctuations are “nervous.”

Now the key issue, if we talk about reorientation to the Russian market, is not the coronavirus, but the situation around Turkey.

The main competitor to tours in Russia is Turkish tourist product. And in Turkey at the moment with sales of tours everything is well, and it does not give any flow to our market, Romashkin said. If something happens because of a military or political conflict with Russia, there will be a surge in demand at domestic resorts.

Source: tourprom