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New Year sightseeing in Europe is more in-demand than last year

14:39, 22 октября 2012

It’s still two months before the holiday season begins, and the demand for excursions in Europe is already 20% higher than last year. Yet tour operators struggle to define the most popular destination among Russian tourists. There are several favorites, of course: France, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy and Austria.

“We’ve had good holiday sales since the end of September, but it’s hard to say at the moment if the high demand we’re seeing is a tendency or just a result of good prices on early bookings. I think we’ll see a clearer picture by late November”, - says General Manager of DSBW-Tours, Karen Goncharov. At the moment tourists are hot for Italy, Spain and France. “Another popular product right now is our new bus tour of Europe which starts with a charter flight to Rimini”, - noted Mr. Goncharov.

The demand is different than last year due to holiday dates being moved, thinks General Manager of DSBW-Tours. The tendency was picked up by companies working with beach resorts. “The first working day of 2013 will be 9 January. In previous years it was usually 10 11 January. So now tourists have a more narrow date window which they can use for their trip without having to take sick days or an official vacation at work. That’s why most popular tours start before the New Year – from 28 December”, - explained Mr. Goncharov.

Deputy General Manager of Jet Travel, Maksim Pristavko, is also confident that the excursion programs in Europe still have great potential – good sales of holiday tours strat around November. “So far we’re very happy with the dynamic: the demand for Europe is up 20%, compared to last year. Vienna and Salzburg sell well together, just like Paris and Bavaria. Also Switzerland is getting more attention this year due to new excursion programs”, - said Mr. Pristavko. According to him, prices for excursion tours have not gone up since last year, and that should be good motivation for tourists.

Olga Sanaeva, General Manager of Ankor, confirms that the prices are stable. Her company specializes in bus tours. “It’s too early to talk about notable increase in demand – the bookings are at last year’s level. The only difference is that people prefer to leave earlier this year”, - she said. The operator’s top sellers are Germany and France. “Also tourists like packages with some winter activities involved. Like, for instance, snow tubing. It is less extreme than skiing and snowboarding, and doesn’t really require you to be in good shape”, - explained Mrs. Sanaeva. Such recreation is offered by basically all European countries which have the proper terrain – Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and many others.

According to Vladislav Salatov, General Manager of DVM-Tour, Czech Republic is popular in the high dates starting from 30 December, as well as during the “new low” dates around 5 6 January. “The price tag on these dates is 30-40% smaller and that can seriously affect one’s choice. Czech Republic is more expansive than last year due to transport costs growing by 10%”, - said Mr. Salatov. Right now sales are going pretty much according to plan.

Andrey Zharkov, Head of Zharkov Tour, notes that the Baltic region, which was always a number one excursion destination, is giving way to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan this year. “I think it’s just that the trends are changing. People have seen all the Baltic region can offer, now they are looking for something new”, - thinks the expert. And CIS countries are in a favorable position – they have a visa-free regime with Russia. “The November holidays are a good example of that. The Baltic region sale depth is only about 10%, whereas Georgia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are mostly sold out”, - said Andrey Zharkov.

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