Tourist flow to Turkey by September will be 400 thousand Russian tourists
On Thursday, 30.06.16 in the evening on the Kremlin website was published the presidential decree under the long title “On amendments to the decree on measures to ensure the national security of Russia and the protection of Russian citizens from criminal and other illegal actions and the application of special economic measures against Turkey”, which removes the ban on the sale of tours to Turkey. While Rosaviatsiya coordinates charter programs, tour operators hastened to take advantage of the lifting of the embargo and immediately resumed sales of tours - so far at the existing facilities of regular flights, including on the wings of Turkish Airlines and other Turkish carriers.
Russian tourist flow to Turkey by the end of the season has a chance to recover to the volume of 300-400 thousand tourists per month. Specific figures depend on how quickly Rosaviatsia is ready to allow charter programs, but most importantly, on the level of demand. At the same time, as expected, the start of sales of tours to Turkey occurred instantly - on Thursday evening, a presidential decree was published, and on Friday several tour operators, in particular Tez Tour, Anex Tour and Pegasus Touristik, launched sales, although while using "regular" transportation facilities. In the coming days, the tour operator Biblio-Globus will begin its programs. The first charter flights will fly to Turkey on July 7.
The growth of demand, I must say, is rapid. Turkey has literally returned to the top ten best-selling countries in a day. “Over the past day since the lifting of restrictions on organized tourism to Turkey, the share of this country has grown from zero to 21%,” Igor Blinov, director of development of the travel agency network Online.Tour, told the correspondent of the Turprom information group. At the same time, the prices for tour packages are still “out” from the cost of regular transportation. However, they are low: for example, the average price of packages tour operator "Tez Tour" is about 35 thousand per person, and "Anex Tour" prices start from 45 thousand for two.
Turkish officials say charter flights from Russia to Turkey will resume on July 7. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, from June 7, 17 flights per month will be carried out from Russia. Official confirmation has not yet been received, tour operators announce the start of programs on average somewhere in the 15-20 days. Basically, the forecasts are optimistic, the same cities of the southern district are counting on a high load, Dmitry Gorin, a member of the ATOR transport committee, told the correspondent of the Turprom information group.
The most interesting thing is that tour operators should not rush to set many flights - their euphoria is not confirmed by the position of many potential tourists, the expert noted. “According to the BFM survey, only 20% of tourists are ready to start in Turkey at any time, and about 40% prefer to wait – someone is worried about security, someone will wait for lower prices,” said Dmitry Gorin.