The Russian Tour Operators Association has summed up the preliminary results of the summer season (the final results will be announced in December). According to the Executive Director at the Association of Tour Operators, Maya Lomidze, due to the absence of two of Russians' favorite major mass destinations – Turkey and Egypt – all other areas of foreign holidays have been in demand. An increase in demand during the entire season was registered in the Mediterranean areas of Europe – Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy, as well as Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast. A slight increase was registered in the resorts of Croatia and Montenegro. A renaissance was obvious in Southeast Asia – Vietnam and Thailand – which are among the top ten most popular destinations in summer 2016.
A significant breakthrough has been seen Tunisia, where demand has increased by more than 200% in comparison with the same period of last year. "Despite the fact that security issues caused some concerns, including among our bodies, Russian tourists have made a clear choice in favor of Tunisia. This country is in the top three best-selling lines this year," Lomidze noted.
As for Russian resorts, again there was an increased demand for the Krasnodar region, Crimea, Kaliningrad and even Primorye. According to Lomidze, "the flow of independent tourists to the organized segment of tourism" – to Krasnodar Territory and Crimea – was an unprecedented trend. For the first time for many years, tour operators proposed much lower prices than a tourist could find themselves, even with the most economical accommodation and the cheapest tickets. This trend has led to the fact that the dynamics of growth in the segment of organized tourism have become much higher than the average market growth. If we analyze the increased demand this summer, it has increased by 15-18% in comparison to the previous year.
Meanwhile, Russians choose not only Russia, but also the CIS countries, our closest neighbors, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Maya Lomidze also announced interesting information about the organization of corporate events abroad. Tendencies to the development of business tourism don’t differ from all other types of travelling, and the economic situation affects business trips. We mean budget reduction, the reduction of the duration of business trips, which leads to a decrease in volumes in the segment of business tourism. "This is a clear and obvious impact of all event-related activities, which should be ordered by various corporations. Instead of foreign countries, they are trying to book in Russia, as it is cheaper,’’ Lomidze said. In addition, earlier corporate events could be held in the midst of the high season, but now the low season is preferred for cost reasons.
