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Over 40% of tours in Russia sold below prime cost

08:07, 9 февраля 2012

Travel trade experts are trying to find out what caused the collapse of one of the oldest tour operators in Russia - Lanta-tour Voyage, which used to be a successful player on the market for two decades. As it was said at yesterday's press-conference at the Russian Union of Travel Industry, companies won't be able to avoid new bankruptcies. And in a situation when the market is ruled by dumping, the collapse of the next player is only a matter of time.

 

«Sure, Lanta-tour Voyage's owners remain the biggest reason behind what's happening. But the tour company was never caught in initiating dumping and was simply following the market, lowering prices in order to keep its clients. As a result it ended up being short of finances, - says the Union's press secretary Irina Tyurina. – Aeroflot got tired of giving out tickets on credit while Master-bank refused giving another loan for which it also probably had its reasons».

 

Master-bank's board chairman's advisor, Egor Altman, told RIA Novosti that Lanta-tour is among around ten thousand of the bank's clients. «Such a large company can't have only one credit institute», - he added.

 

Experts say today a large part of the tourism market depends on banks. According to tour companies, around 40-45% of tours are sold cheaper than their cost. And only around 15% of tours bring profit. The «lower than cost» tendency is seen especially among long-range destinations. For instance, tours to the Dominican Republic are sold around $240 lower than its cost, $240 to Indonesia, $260 to Thailand, $300 to India, $320 to Cuba, $350 to Vietnam. It's estimated that the average «discount» for every tourist in November-December 2011 was $248. This is the result for around 40% of all tours sold!

 

According to RUTI several players demonstrate overvalued ambitions, destroying the market. «The last successful year for the travel trade was 2009 – during the crisis. Back then, tour companies were afraid of low demand and managed to calculate all the risks. Ended up using their volumes rationally and made some money. While in 2011, on the wave of the euphoria, they once again began increasing the number of trips, provoking dumping on most destinations, and failed, - says Irina Tyurina.  – Last year the situation wasn't any better: the traditional high season months – July and August – were the most unprofitable. The New Year holidays also sold worse than expected».

 

The position of air carriers aggravates the situation even more – many prefer one-sided cooperation with tour companies, in other words, only for their own benefit. «With the decline of demand, say how it was Thailand last fall, when the country was hit by massive floods, airlines still didn't want to reduce the amount of flights. Despite the fact the Russian Foreign Ministry even recommended citizens not to visit Bangkok! Tour companies lose money either way: either because of the deposit which is 10% from the price of the program, which stays with the airline, if the customer cancels the trip, or loses from unsold seats.

 

RUTI proposed ways to regulate the market one year ago, right after the bankruptcy of Capital tour, but all this time was wasted on endless discussions of the proposal by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism. The Union's vice-president, Yury Barzykin, has once again voiced the organization's position, outlining, that ensuring each tour is the only universal mechanism to protect tourists, since it guarantees compensation to all affected travelers. Besides, to fight dumping it's necessary to work out mechanisms to regulate how prices are formed in tourism using the experience of insurance and banking businesses.

 

«Hopefully, authorities won't use the situation to once again toughen laws, making another quick but not very thoughtful decision», - said the head of the Union's legal commission Georgy Mokhov. He claims, even if the market was limited by higher financial guarantees, this wouldn't solve the problems for tourists, who were abroad when their tour operator announced its bankruptcy.

 

According to Yury Barzykin, it would have been right to hold an independent audit of the financial state of tourist companies: «Debts don't appear in an instance. Credit histories show how companies work. Such a practice would have allowed avoiding the current problems on the market».

 

Even though RUTI doesn't rule out new bankruptcies, Mr. Barzykin is asking to withhold from negative forecasts concerning the collapse of the tourism market. In turn Irina Tyurina has called on tourists not to hunt for cheap tours: «Unfortunately, the price remains the decisive factor when choosing a tour for most Russians. The market could have been stabilized, if the general public memorized this one rule: the cheaper a tour, the more risks it carries for the tourist».

 

The situation with Russia's tourism market will be the main issue at the open meeting of the union's management, set to be held within the framework of the MITT-2012 travel trade fair. Tour companies are planning to work out a general stance on what's happening and discuss possible ways to solve the current problems.

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