“We had planned a charter chain of direct flights from Moscow to Tirana for the summer season, but with the start of the season it had to be cancelled for a number of reasons, including the refusal of other participants in the program to fulfill their obligations. As a result, we reoriented flight program to Podgorica,” the press service of the tour operator TUI Russia told the Interfax-Tourism portal.
As the company emphasized, all tourists who booked tours to Albania were offered various options, including flights on regular flights and individual transfers.
The TUI Russia charter program was scheduled to begin on June 19 and will be operated by Ural Airlines on 210-seat A321 aircraft once a week on Tuesdays.
The CEO of the tour operator Space Travel, Artur Muradyan, told the Interfax-Tourism portal that his company had taken seats on the TUI flight, but was forced to give up its block of 120 seats back in March due to “inconsistency in the pricing policy of the program participants.” Before the start of the season, Space Travel tried to negotiate transportation with the Albanian airline, but this did not work out due to the lack of an aircraft of suitable capacity.
To Albania via Montenegro
“Currently, tours to Albania are sold with flights to Podgorica and Tivat (for combined programs Montenegro + Albania). It should be noted that the transfer from Podgorica to some resorts in Albania does not differ much in time from the transfer from Tirana airport,” TUI Russia reported.
Space Travel also carries tourists via Podgorica. “We have certain losses due to the lack of a direct flight, but they are not great,” A. Muradyan emphasized.
Vicious circle
The Russian Union of Travel Industry believes that for the destination to be successful on the Russian market, it needs to be advertised and tour operators supported by local authorities.
“In an effort to increase the Russian tourist flow, Albania cancels visas for citizens of our country every summer. That is, you can only enter with a foreign passport and stay in the country for up to 90 days. It must be admitted that this did not help much. Last year, a new topic appeared: Albania intends to attract Russian tourists by the absence of refugees and terrorist threats in the country. But even in this case, even if tour operators spoke of a noticeable increase in demand, in absolute figures the result was always modest,” Irina Tyurina, press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, told the Interfax-Tourism portal.
According to her, the abolition of visas for Russian tourists alone will not surprise them. Other Balkan states – Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia – have long done the same. The promotion of Albanian resorts on the Russian market is sorely lacking support from local tourism authorities.
"Albania is not advertised in Russia at all, which means that tourists simply know nothing about this destination. An equally serious drawback was the lack of direct air service between our countries. Getting to the airport of the Albanian capital Tirana had to be via Istanbul, Vienna or Montenegrin Podgorica. But it is also strange to put charters on a completely unpromoted route. Usually, flight programs are organized where stable demand has already formed, and the demand for a charter flight is completely obvious," added I. Tyurina.
She emphasized that the failed attempt of tour operators this year confirms that the circle has closed: there is no demand because there are no direct flights, and direct flights are not filled because demand has not been generated. “A powerful advertising campaign of the country’s tourism opportunities and financial support from Albania for Russian tour operators who work in this direction and, moreover, try to set up charters, will help break this vicious circle,” the expert believes.
Attempt #2
TUI Russia reported that next summer they plan to once again launch a charter program from Moscow to Tirana, but this time relying only on their own sales.
“Albania has great prospects due to its location: tourists have a choice of resorts on the coasts of two seas, the country offers unique natural conditions and attractive prices for services at resorts, so we plan to further develop this area of summer holidays,” the press service concluded.
A. Muradyan is also planning his own flight to Albania next year. He believes that the country's potential as a holiday destination for Russian tourists is enormous.
"I have been to Albania and seen this country. I can say that its potential is higher than Bulgaria's. It is not inferior in terms of standard of living, coastline, and prices. Plus, it is visa-free for Russians, and we are chasing visa-free countries. Albania has a great future. I think it will soon appear in the range of mass tour operators, and we have the opportunity to work with it for one or two seasons before the largest companies enter the destination," he emphasized.
According to the expert, large tour operators are currently waiting for the destination to gain traction on the Russian market.
“The response we saw after the agencies’ advertising tours in 2017 was 100%. Everyone was delighted. The nature there is better than in Montenegro. Two coastlines, one of which resembles the Greek Corfu. The people are very nice, it’s cheap, the level of hotels is quite high, and many new ones are opening, which is not typical for the countries of the former Yugoslavia,” added A. Muradyan.
He noted that in recent years, Ukraine and Belarus have been increasing the frequency of flights to Tirana to two or three per day. The global holding TUI has also included Albania in its range.
Rosstat publishes statistics on 60 countries where Russians travel the most. Romania took the last place among them in 2017, where 13 thousand Russian citizens visited. Albania is not among these countries, meaning the tourist flow there is even smaller. A. Muradyan believes that now it does not exceed 2-3 thousand per year.
The Republic of Albania is a country in the western Balkan Peninsula, bordering Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Greece. The population is almost 2.9 million people. The coastline is 362 km long, washed by the Ionian and Adriatic Seas. The country is a candidate for EU membership. Russians need a visa to enter, but every year for the summer season it is cancelled. In particular, in 2018, the visa was cancelled from April 1 to October 31. In 2017, the visa-free regime was in effect from May 31 to November 15.
Source: tourism.interfax.ru