The executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, Maya Lomidze, reported today about Turkey's consideration of special ticket prices for Russian tourists to keep the flow of tourists from Russia in the new season.
"Now this issue is under consideration. Representatives of the Russian tourist industry have proposed the introduction of special prices. There is the difficult economic situation in Russia, people began to abandon vacations to save money, so there was a need to introduce support measures for tour operators and special anti-crisis prices for tourists," she said.
According to Lomidze, special prices for Russians can become a part of the anti-crisis program developed by the government of Turkey. "Because of the difficult situation in the market, none of the tour operators are making long-term forecasts, and those who make them, dissemble, or have inaccurate information. Now all opinions are reduced to one - tour operators, working in the outbound direction, need support. Therefore, the professional market participants operating in the Turkish area have developed a proposal that will not only maintain the flow of tourists, but will also avoid the closure of some travel companies," the executive director said.
The representative of the Ministry of Culture of Turkey, Irfan Onal, has announced the development of a package of measures for the tourism industry, a whole section in which is dedicated to Russia. In particular, the state will pay $6000 of the cost of each flight from Russia to support tour operators. The representative of the Federation of Turkish Hoteliers, Gulcin Guler, said that this year all contracts and all conditions for Russian tourists will be reviewed, as "hoteliers will offer discounts to Russian tourists."
Maya Lomidze assessed subsidies for charters as an opportunity to avoid bankruptcy for some companies. "The grant of $6000 is 45% of the cost of the charter flight. This support is quite essential for tour operators working in this direction," TASS cited her as saying.
The head of the Faculty of Entrepreneurship in Hospitality and Tourism of RANEPA, Irina Goncharova, and Professor of the Department of Business Process Management in Production and Service of RANEPA, Galina Dekhtyar, commented in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza on the effectiveness of the measures taken by Turkey to save the tourist flow from Russia. Irina Goncharova noted that, although the Turkish side is ready to go to great lengths for Russians, the cost of permits would increase.
"The Turkish government is really concerned that there is a probability of a sharp decline in the number of tourists from Russia and they voice very interesting proposals, including the fixing of prices in rubles. Turkey, of course, makes every effort to ensure the flow of our tourists to the country won't weaken, but according to forecasts, the cost of traveling abroad this year will grow. In this regard, Turkey and other countries, where there was good feedback from our visitors in the form of expenses, will try to keep this thread, and will do so aggressively. We'll see in the exhibitions in March (Intermarket and Travel & Tourism Exhibition exhibition), what proposals will come from Turkey," Goncharova said.
She noted that the determination of Russians to go on holiday abroad is affected not by only prices but also a decrease in revenues.
Galina Dekhtyar, in her turn, drew attention to the need for the Turkish side to determine in detail all the preferences that will be provided by the Russians to the number of tourists remaining. "The purchasing power of the ruble today is much lower than before, and many people are simply afraid to go abroad due to the fact that they do not have enough money. Only if everything is described very clearly will consumers be informed about exactly how much they will have to pay, that the airline won't take away the money and increase the cost of the ticket, maybe people will go then. But, of course, the tourist flows seen previously should not be expected now," she said.
According to Dekhtyar, today Russians' trust in the tourism industry has been greatly undermined. "It's not just the dollar and the euro exchange rates. This is about a lack of regulation by the state, which has not decided which way it leans on the activities of tour operators and travel agents. Because of this, there are unscrupulous sellers of tickets, who are engaged in fraud in the market - companies that sell tickets online, pointing the phone numers of real travel agencies. Then, tourists are turning to these travel agencies and, of course, cannot get tickets or their money. In fact, I think most people who have travelled will remain on the territory of their cities, and those who have travelled abroad, will travel across Russia," the expert believes.
