OREANDA-NEWS About a million Russian tourists refused to book tours to Turkey early due to price increases, but by the end of the year the country will still remain the most popular among foreign destinations, Aleksan Mkrtchyan, Vice president of the Alliance of Travel Agencies, told reporters.

According to him, early booking of tours for the summer season with big discounts, which is traditionally offered by tour operators in January-March, failed this year due to rising prices.

"Usually tour operators sell 40-45% of seats by March 31. This year, 15-17% of the seats were sold. The early booking actually failed. Mainly because the prices for Turkey turned out to be very high, and people were afraid to go there. Someone chose Russia, someone Egypt, the UAE. Turkey missed, I think, a million Russians on an early booking. Now they are trying to fix the situation, reduce prices. Even hotels of international brands announce discounts of up to 30%. I recently returned from there, the load of some popular hotels is 40-50%. But in the neighboring hotel - 80%. We are starting to understand - the neighbor has lowered the price, and this one is trying to hold on and does not reduce it," the expert said.

He recalled that the Turkish market is the main one among foreign markets for Russia.

"Now, in June, there are places in all hotels in Turkey. Yes, now the load is growing because the months of basic vacations are beginning. And I think that hotels will get a good load by the beginning of July," Mkrtchyan added.

The CEO of the tour operator TEZ Tour, Voskan Arzumanov, explained that the depth of travel bookings has changed a lot after the coronavirus pandemic, and early booking is not as popular now as it was before 2019. He believes that the main reason for the increase in prices for tours to Turkey was the weakening of the ruble.

"And if we talk about prices, they differ from last year's only because of the euro exchange rate. Contracts for all international destinations are in our currency, and Turkey is in euros. Last year, the euro cost 65 rubles, this year - 90 rubles. Out of the blue, an increase of 30-50%. The Turkish "four" for "all inclusive" for 10 days in June costs an average of 50 thousand rubles per person with all fees, flight transfers, all-inclusive meals. An average of five is bought for 130-150 thousand rubles for two. Of course, the rise in price in the luxury segment is very noticeable. If earlier it was possible to go to such a hotel for half a million rubles for two, now it is for 750 thousand. And this is due not only to the currency, but also to the fact that luxury hotels have raised prices," the expert explained.

Arzumanov added that 70% of the tour operator's sales in Turkey fall on five-star hotels, 25% - on four-star and only 5% - on three-star.

"Therefore, when we say that 70% of the demand is for five-star hotels, we understand that the direction is in demand and there has not been a frenzied rise in price. Holidays in Turkey remain generally affordable," said the CEO of TEZ Tour.

According to Mkrtchyan, the optimistic forecast for the tourist flow to Turkey for this year is 6 million Russian tourists. In 2022, more than 5 million Russians rested in the country. At the same time, other foreign destinations lag far behind Turkey: Egypt and Thailand, according to the expert's forecast, are unlikely to receive more than a million tourists each.