The summer, travel agents working in with
the French destination made a bid on the South of the country. They hoped to
widen the assortment of deals on offer, after the launch of a direct flight
from Moscow to the Province Marseille last year,
by the French national airline Air France. From here, it’s only a
couple of hour’s drive to Nice and Monaco, and also a wide array of excursions
available, which have already been taken advantage of by many Russian tourists.
However, it’s is highly unlikely that the majority of our fellow compatriots
who visit France
will ever drastically change their preferences in this country. The most
popular summer destinations are still Paris
and the Core d’Azur.
“The province is chosen by those who
already studied France
well. Though even those who have been to Paris
numerous times, and want to see something new, aren’t ready to over pay for
it”, - pointed out the head of the French department of the “Ascent Travel”
company, Julia Kulisheva. The cheapest week-long tour around the South of
France, from her words, will cost around 1000 Euro per person. To increase the
interest of consumers, travel agents are actively promoting combination tours,
which combine excursions and a vacation on the beach on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
“This year we’ve concentrated our summer
sales of the South of France in particular, we’ve even opened our own
representative offices here. And it was decided that we’d be promoting the
non-standard tour product. For example the tour “Plein Air for artists” with
visits to the most picturesque places in the Province, or an adventure for
those who are fans of active tourism – “Going to the Alps in Summer”, - told us
the director of tourism from the “Ertsog” company Olga Voikina. At the same
time the expert agrees that these kinds of offers aren’t calculated for the
mass tourist. The primary choice amongst the Russians, according to her words,
is aimed at two of France’s
resorts – Nice and Cannes.
The increase here this summer turned out to be quite significant for the
company – around 50% compared to last year’s data. “I think that the launch of
the direct flight from Moscow
to Marseille, played the primary role, which significantly broadened the
opportunity of various combined holidays”, - explains Voikina.
The “Vand International Group” company
points out that in summer, around 30-40% of clients from travel agencies
combine their holiday on the Cote d’Azur
with a visit to Paris.
The head of the French Department Marina Buznik is satisfied with the results
from the season. From her observations and excursion to Paris sells particularly well over the course
of summer. “Today, the depth of sales for these kinds of tours reaches all the
way to the end of August – beginning of September. On the contrary, for the
shores of Cote d’Azur, the peak season is coming to end, here in the beginning
of autumn we observe a significant drop in the consumer activity”, - she
clarified
Julia Kulisheva assessed the growth of the
summer flow of tourists into France
around the 10% mark, which, according to her words, completely coincides with
the preliminary forecast for the season. “France is a win-win destination for
travel agents. With the exemption of the crisis ridden 2009, the country shows
stable growth. However the marginal profit of tour companies is gradually
decreasing”, - noticed the representative from “Ascent Travel”. The cause is the high cost of tour packages:
accommodation in hotels on the shores of Cote
d’Azur is 30% more expensive that in hotels of the same
category, for example in neighbouring Italy. It’s precisely because of
this that today, up to 70% of bookings made are made for cheap hotel rooms and
apartments in the 2-3 star category. “This year, thankfully VIP-clients have
caught up a little, and that allowed us to align our financial figures – added the companion of RATA-news, highlighting
that a very similar situation is being observed in Paris.
