Despite the fact that the situation in a number of outbound destinations is not entirely simple, Russian tourists are not ready to give up foreign trips in favor of domestic resorts. At the same time, in general, the number of people wishing to vacation in Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory is growing from year to year per year.
As the TRN portal was told in the press service of the tour operator "Alean", The demand for Black Sea resorts is currently at the level it should be at two months before the end of the early booking promotion - sales are very active.
At the same time, according to the company's experts, the coronavirus situation does not affect the demand for domestic destinations, at least for now. "And let's hope that the situation will be resolved soon. It is wrong to assume that the pandemic can increase demand for Russian resorts, since in any case, if the epidemic begins to spread, the tourist simply will not go anywhere," Aleana emphasized.
General Director of the tour operator "Dolphin" Sergey Romashkin also reported that the coronavirus situation had not affected the sales rate in any way. “In my opinion, those tourists who were planning a vacation in Europe have now taken a break and are not buying either Europe or Russia. In any case, those tourists whom we know and with whom we talk are not “defectors” from Italy and other countries. These are tourists who initially planned to vacation in Russia. There are no replacements here. It seems to me that those tourists who were planning to go to Europe will now wait a month or two until the epidemic subsides. And, thus, they will go where they planned,” he said.
However, Sergei Romashkin suggested that if the situation develops negatively, perhaps Russian travelers will reconsider their views on summer vacations, but in any case, this is not happening yet.
The expert also added that domestic resorts are ready to accept additional tourists in case of an influx of guests: "The potential of our resorts, of course, exceeds the current occupancy levels, and even in summer there are always places. Perhaps these will not be the most starred, not the most popular hotels: they are sold out first. But, nevertheless, it will be possible to find accommodation in the summer even if demand increases."
In turn, as he emphasized Executive Director of the tour operator Intourist Sergey Tolchin, at the moment, there is a slowdown in sales on outbound routes, which is associated, among other things, with the end of the next stage of the early booking promotion and significant volatility in the exchange rate, as well as widespread media coverage of information on the spread of coronavirus infection.
As for domestic destinations, the company has noted growth in this segment in 2020. However, the expert also does not associate the positive sales dynamics with the coronavirus. “Sales on domestic routes exceed planned values. This trend has been observed in domestic destinations in the organized tourism sector for several years in a row. According to our statistics, demand for Sochi and Crimea shows positive dynamics compared to the same period last year. Yes, we can say that demand is affected by the general information background. However, the growth in sales on this route is rather a natural result of the efforts being made in the industry. This includes the expansion of transport infrastructure, the availability of regional air transportation to popular resorts in the Russian south, and the flexible policies of domestic hoteliers,” explained Sergey Tolchin, noting that this year prices at Russian resorts remained at the 2019 level.
"In recent years, the infrastructure of resorts has undergone significant changes: new facilities are appearing, existing ones are being renovated. In general, it can be said that in case of increased demand, the infrastructure is capable of receiving more guests. A sufficient number of flights to the airports of Adler, Simferopol, the opening of a new modern terminal can ensure uninterrupted transportation of tourists to resorts," concluded Sergey Tolchin.
Source: trn-news.ru