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I have a vacation therefore I am

 

The results of summer season turned out to be more optimistic than the forecasts before the season.

Despite the forecasts of analysts, Russians went abroad for vacations even in crisis period. The structure of demand has changed; the average tour price was abated to compare with the previous year, but the general picture almost didn’t change.

At the beginning of the year tour operators were expected about 30% fall of the demand for summer vacation. This spring almost confirmed such forecast, but the course of events turned out to be more optimistic.

Announcing about the lack of profoundness of the sales, tour operators noted with surprise that the volume of sales for concrete period was almost the same as the previous year.

Executive Director of ATOR, Maya Lomidze noted that the season was not as bad as expected. "The season wasn’t the easiest one, some destinations had unexpected downfalls”, said Maya Lomidze. – For example, Croatia - July wasn’t as good as last year”.

Most of the tours were sold as special offers. The average number of special offers exceeded the usual level for 15 thousands per month.

As a result, some destinations had an increase of number of tourists from Russia, it’s well-known that Russians are not afraid of Swine Flu, forests fires, typhoons or earthquakes. The preferences of our citizens haven’t changed to compare with the last year.

Top three destinations for Russian are almost still the same. As it was expected the first place goes to Turkey. According to statistics of Ministry of Tourism of Turkey about 1,47 million Russians visited the country for the last 7 months (mostly for tourism).

And that’s for 10% less than the same period of last year, but better than expected according to the forecasts.  In July 2009 Turkey received more than 472 thousand Russians and that’s for 42 people more than in July, 2008.

«We stated a 20% increase of summer sales for Turkey”, - said Anna Podgornaya, General Director of Pegas Touristik. – We can explain it by affordability of vacation in Turkey, it’s not expensive and the client doesn’t need visa, so it’s possible to travel any time".

The second place goes to Egypt; it’s becoming all year round destination. Summer vacation in Egypt is much cheaper than in winter time for some hotels the difference can be even for 40%.

The experts are sure that the stereotype about hot summers in Egypt has changed.

"People understood that it’s not hotter than in Turkey or Emirates, but the price is cheaper, and it attracted a lot of Russian in crisis period”, said Gennadiy Kosarev, Sales Director of VKO Travel. – As for our company, we have a 35% increase of number of sales in comparison with the same period of last year.

The opinions are different concerning the third popular summer destination. According to the words of Inna Beltyukova, General Director of Capital Tour, the third place goes to Bulgaria, even though Russians need visa to enter this country.

Judging by the number of issued visas, the popularity of Bulgaria has grown. According to the words of Nickolay Panayotov, Consul of Bulgarian Embassy, Moscow Consular Service issued 155 thousand visas during 7 months. That’s for 10-15% more than a year ago.

«We issued a record breaking number per day on 29th of July – 3017 visas”, said Mr. Panayotov. – That’s the greatest number of issued visas per day in any Consulate of Russia ".

According to the opinion of Gennadiy Kosarev, the third place goes to Spain, though Russians need visa and the tours are more expensive. Judging by the number of issued visas during 7 months (more than 172 thousand visas) Spain took the lead over Bulgaria.

Some tour operators include visa free Croatia and Montenegro to top five destinations of summer season, where Russians have bought a lot of real estate lately. Some people visit Montenegro as the country of their “second home”. 

May Lomidze thinks that decrease of demand wasn’t so dramatic for the industry, and it happened thanks to the stable almost unchanged level of salaries of the people in the country.  

"There is a direct dependence between the level of salary and the volume of outbound tourist flow, explained Mrs. Lomidze. – We can admit a 25% growth of salaries in Russia per year, in regions less. Almost the same growth rates were for outbound tourism".

 

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