Russians already back to Tunisia
First Russian tourists to come back to Tunisia after the “Jasmine” revolution were pensioners. As early as 22nd of February ten people came to Sousse to get on with the vacation they had to stop in the middle of January. At the Tour Khalef Marhaba Hotel they were greeted with flowers and champagne.
“These tourists take part in our social program “Winter in Tunisia”. We had to bring them back to Moscow earlier because of the events in the country. They didn’t want to leave as they still had 3-4 weeks of vacation ahead and the disorders didn’t reach the resort. And as soon as the curfew in Tunisia was lifted the customers started to call us asking when they can return” – was said to RATA-news by Mr. Alexander Orlovsky, general director for Nouvelle Trans Company.
There are no direct flights from Russia to Tunisia now. And only on March 19 Tunisian Nouvelair will resume the flights followed by Transaero next day. In order to take tourists to Sousse the tour operator made an agreement with Alitalia which offered a good price for a one way flight. The pensioners are expected to fly back home on Transaero flight. They only paid the airfare, the accommodation and meals were tendered. The only ones to pay extra were those who wished to stay in Tunisia longer than they had initially paid for.
The curfew was lifted on February 15. So were the travelling restriction for citizens of Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany and France. It is now 16-17 degrees centigrade, everything is quite, and the entire infrastructure including thalassotherapy centers is operating. Some Russian tour operators resumed sales of tours to Tunisia in the middle of February. Hammamet and Sousse are open for booking. But the flights will be resumed no sooner than 19th-20th of March. The next Nouvelle Trans group is scheduled to depart on March 8, they too will fly with Alitalia. “These are pensioners that couldn’t complete their vacation as well” – says Alexander Orlovsky – “Although there is a demand for Tunisia, “new” tourists book the trips departing no sooner than March 20”.
The Nouvelle Trans’s “Winter in Tunisia” social program has been on for 3 years already. It commences in late October, right after summer season, and ends by the start of new summer season on May 1. In such a way the tour operator made Tunisia the all-year destination. Hotels offer very reasonable prices, Transaero gives good deals too. As a result pensioners pay just $925 for 22-day trip including airfare. Same tour for 85 days goes for $2120.
Alexander Orlovsky says that most pensioners book 2-3 months vacations. Some go even twice during a season; they book two separate 6-week packages with a small break in between. Many of them already know each other, make arrangements to travel together and bring new customers – the word spreads way too fast in this community.
Due to the abnormal situation the tour operator’s partners decided to stick to the winter season prices for the social program members up to May 1, even though they usually raise room rates from April 1. Initially Nouvelle Trans planned to send 600-700 pensioners to Tunisia this winter. But owing to the political situation the number of program members will decrease significantly.
According to Tunisian National Tourism Office’s data around 180 thousand Russian tourists visited the country in 2010, which is almost 50% more compared to previous year.