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London’s Olympic prices scare Russians

14:37, 20 февраля 2012

This year British tourism authorities bet on two historical events – 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s rule and summer Olympic Games in London. But if the former hardly raise any travel-related questions, the latter becomes a real concern for local and foreign, including Russian, tour operators. Judging by previous Olympic Games many travel trade experts came to realize that, despite the organizers’ statements, such large-scale sport events don’t attract new tourists, on the contrary they scare them off. Recently UK Border Agency stated that even though the country expects to receive 600-700 thousand foreign visitors during 2012 Olympic Games, the number of traditional tourists, who come to London, will be less than usual this summer.

 

Deputy Director General of BSI Group Company Mr. Alexey Popov is sure that the Olympics have already proved to have negative impact on the tourist flow to the UK. “This year the demand is slightly lower than that of the previous year – he points out – Due to a large number of rooms booked for high-rank officials at many beloved by tourists hotels, the prices for other accommodation went seriously up plus there’s not enough room for everyone”.

According to the head of the UK department of DSBW Tours Company Ms. Irina Folomeyeva, the Russians’ interest towards the UK hasn’t really changed, but the demand for the Olympics is minimal. “As for now the prices for London hotels are normal, all our beds have been already sold out, we have many groups for school spring breaks as well. But from April the prices rise dramatically. The tourists do ask about Olympic tours, but that is it – as soon as they find out the cost of an airfare and accommodation, the interest disappears. “Olympic prices bite, so we don’t have any actual bookings. The hotels are very expensive, so a standard itinerary for two including admission to sport events, starts at €10-12 thousand” – confirms the manager for Britain of Megapolus Tours company Ms. Anastasia Koulikova. Verbana Company refers to the demand for Olympic period as “simply null”.

 

The prices for accommodation at London hotels during the Olympics have really gone 2-3 times up, plus the hotels have introduced minimum periods of stay and demand pre-payment from tourists. The cost of a standard 3-4-star hotel room in London can reach ?400 (almost $480) – Ms. Folomeyeva outlines. That’s why British Tourism Authority VisitBritain expressed its condemnation of the policy of London hoteliers.

 

The Russians are not the only ones to be scared off by sky-high price tags for air transportation and lodging in Britain. Not so long ago leading Chinese and Japanese tour operators stated that their clients completely refuse to travel to London because of the high prices and Olympic turmoil that always comes hand in hand with enhanced security measures, traffic problems and other inconveniences. The Chinese know better – the memories of Beijing Olympic Games are still fresh.

However, Alexey Popov believes it’s too early to despair. “Just like it was with previous Olympic Games, London is about to go through “revaluation”. They will find out that too many rooms have been reserved for official delegations, that the tourists don’t come any more, and the prices will go down. Perhaps it might become an extra motivation for Russian tourists” – he explained.

 

The other day the forecast of the Russian expert has already come true. British Olympic Committee gave the city 120 thousand rooms back, including some 5-star hotels. However British inbound operators think that the committee’s decision came a bit late as most of the bookings for summer season fall on November-December, so many foreign tourists have already chosen another destination for their holidays. As per the data of British Hotel Association, for the Olympic period and a couple weeks before and after the event the city received twice less bookings than usual. But there is still hope. “We do hope that as the Games come closer the inbound tour operators will be able to offer more adequate prices” – Anastasia Koulikova pointed out.

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