The Federal Tourism Agency has completed the program to evacuate Russian tourists from Turkey, the press secretary of the Federal Tourism Agency, Svetlana Sergeyeva, said.
"We have completed the program to evacuate Russian tourists from the republic – more than 9 thousand tourists from Russia, who entered the country using tour operators, have returned home," TASS cited her as saying.
Sergeyeva added that 6-10 self-booked tourists are still staying in Turkish resorts and will fly home by 26 December.
The vice president of the Association of Russian Tour Operators, Dmitry Gorin, also confirmed that the last organized Russian tourists, about 300 people, returned to Russia this weekend.
"We can say that there are no Russian tourists in Turkey now," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.
The President of the Association of Domestic Tourism of Russia, Vladimir Sharov, said in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that one can hardly expect rapid growth in sales of the Russian tourist product. "If tourists were planning a trip to Turkey or Egypt, which didn't take place, it does not mean that tomorrow they will choose Russian resorts or choose a cultural trip in the central part of Russia," the expert explained.
"In the near future there will be a loss of volume as such. That is, if 100% of tourists cancelled over the Turkish problem, a maximum 40% of them will choose a domestic product. If Russians will understand in 2.5 months that the situation is still critical, and they cannot get either to Turkey or to Egypt, then they will begin to book a Russian product," the expert said.
The President of the Association of Domestic Tourism of Russia also reminded that Russians prefer to halve their vacation to 12-14 days. "The majority, about 70%, has autumn-winter-spring holidays, except the summer period. And, as a rule, 40% of requests for a second trip are either in a sanatorium format in Russia, or in cultural and educational formats," Vladimir Sharov said.
Professor of the Department of Business Process Management in Production and Service of RANEPA, Galina Dekhtyar, said that according to the representatives of the Association of Domestic Tourism of Russia, it does not mean that there are no Russians in Turkey any longer. "There are wives and children, that is, those women who are married to Turks," she said.
The expert also pointed out that it does not mean that if Russians cannot visit Turkey, they will pay attention to domestic tourism, as there are plenty of attractive alternatives, for example Greece with good prices, Spain, Southeast Asia.
She said that there is a significant drop in demand in the industry: the flow of tourists abroad has fallen by 60%. However, domestic tourism has its own drawbacks: for example, prices for holidays in Russia are quite high. "A three-day trip to the cities of the Golden Ring for two persons will cost 48 thousand rubles. But you can visit Nizhny Novgorod, it will cost about 20 thousand per person, including train tickets," Professor of the Department of Business Process Management in Production and Service of RANEPA stressed.
"So, many people will simply stay at home," she noted.
