A very unusual situation for the winter
season has developed on the Tyumen tourism
market – tour companies are actively closing routes to Egypt, while Thailand is becoming the most
popular beach holiday destination, according to the Ural web portal
TurProfi.ru.
The flight program to various parts of Egypt ahead of
the winter season was supposed to be quite saturated. Tez Tour planned flights
to Hurghada every two weeks, Anex Tour and Coral Travel organized a
ten-day-long chain to the destination. Pegas Touristik announced programs to
Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh once every ten days.
But as it turns out, the demand for Egypt is so low, tour operators are forced to
shorten their programs to Red Sea resorts and
switch to other destinations. According to several tour agencies in Tyumen, Tez Tour has
canceled its chain to Hurghada all together.
The manager of the Veter Stranstvy agency, Yuliya Bykova, says the tour
operator canceled the program right after the November holidays, when the
demand for the destination suddenly fell. Several agencies have noted, Tez
Tour’s prices for tours to Egypt
were higher, compared to other offers, which may have been the reason behind
the poor sales.
Starting from November 15 Pegas Touristik
suspended trips to the resort, however, it still remains the only player
offering Tyumen’s
tourists direct flights to Sharm el-Sheikh. “The last flight to Hurghada by
Pegas Touristik was conducted on November 15 with a stop in Chelyabinsk,
because of which, tourists had to undergo registration twice, while the return
is planned to Yekaterinburg”, - says the senior manager of TVOG Ekspress’s
booking department, Yevgeniya Chistyakova, adding that the tour operator has
promised to organize a free transfer from Yekaterinburg to Tyumen in
compensation.
Meanwhile, as flights from Tyumen
to Egypt undergo serious
corrections, programs to Thailand
are conducted smoothly and with a fine uplift, despite negative forecasts from
experts. Even the flood didn’t hamper the tour operators’ flight plans. “We
only had to cancel one tour to the northern part of the country. Currently the
tours’ prices are very attractive and flights are being booked nicely”, - says
TVOG Ekspress.
“The tours are being sold very actively –
both Tez Tour’s programs and UTair’s flight, which is used by Anex, Coral
Travel and Biblio Globus, are very popular”, - says the head of Planeta-Tour’s
sales department, Lyubov Meshkova, adding that the flights are being filled
because of special offers from tour operators.
Tour agencies are in no doubt the announced
programs to Thailand
will be completed fully. Tours were being sold nicely before the news of the
disaster in Bangkok,
however, the lowering of their prices has led to the drop in their
cost-efficiency. “The cost of a tour with a two-day stay in Pattaya starts from
around $780. Of course, tourists won’t think twice about buying it or not. But it’s troubling that they may get used to
such low prices and will be wondering why they went up, when it happens”, -
outlined a manager from 1000 Dorog tour agency, Mariya Krinitsyna.
Planeta-Tur is offering single flights to
the UAE. A group of tourists has already flown to Dubai on October 28, while another flight is
planned for the New Year holidays. The tour operator is waiting to coordinate
all the details with the airline, and if the prices are acceptable, Tyumen residents could
possibly fly to the UAE on January 3 and 4 (the dates are being clarified).
It’s not quite clear about direct flights
from Chelyabinsk to Europe.
According to TurProfi.ru, the Aviaspetstekhnologiya company, which represents
the interests of Yamal in Tymen, possible short-term programs with direct
flights to Prague and Salzburg may be announced only next year.
“The flight to Praue is constantly either
dropped or discussed again. But even with a direct program, the prices of
flights from Yekaterinburg are much more attractive, that’s why even if this
flight does have a chance of happening, it could be only during New Year
hollidays dates”, - says Mariya Krinitsyna.
To remind you, last year only two out of
three announced flights to Salzburg
were conducted - the program had to be
corrected due to poor demand.
At the same time, UTair's regular flight to
Munich is still
in force. There's already a shortage of tickets on New Year holidays flights on
this route, as market players report very active sales. According to the
tourism director of the Planeta-Tur company, Anna Puchkina, the Munich flight is popular among skiers heading to Austria and Germany. «We closed our Munich flight blocks a
month-and-a-half ago. It's pretty traditional this time of year», - she added.