There is no talk of the former mass tourism to Europe – however, despite all the difficulties, there is still demand there – Russian tourists this summer can book tours in almost all European destinations, travel market experts assure. Most of the tour operators, who in the “old years” worked on European destinations, have retained almost the entire range. Among the main countries where our tourists “sneak” are Greece, Italy, Croatia and still visa-free Montenegro, Cyprus, etc.
For example, ATOR gives such examples from market participants. Tour operator TEZ TOUR offers tours to Greece – to Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Peloponnese and Thessaloniki, to Italy – the Adriatic coast, Calabria, the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and Cyprus. FUN&SUN also offers to book both ground handling and tours with GDS flights to the popular resorts of Greece (Crete, Corfu, Halkidiki and Pieria), Montenegro, Croatia, Spain and Portugal. Pax offer Croatia and Montenegro. Ambotis Holidays will also help you to go to Greece and Cyprus. And most of the tour operators that previously specialized in Europe – such as BSI Group, Vedi Group, PAC Group, etc., have retained almost the entire European range.
Tour operators assure that there is a demand – mainly these are applications for “luxury” cement. Greece takes the first place, interest in which has revived – tour operators fix the growth in demand for travel at the level of 15-20%, although it should be borne in mind that in the direction of the “sanctions” the failure of 2022 was huge – up to 90% by 2021, in which there were still covid restrictions. Other experts record a revival in Montenegro, which is still visa-free for Russians, there is also a request for trips to Croatia and Hungary, which are more or less willing to issue visas to our tourists.
True, as experts from the tourist market explain, on average, tourists traveling to Europe already have visas – and some even have residence permits. At the same time, the share of family tourists is slightly increasing and, to some extent, adaptation has taken place, tour operators assure. But in general, it is difficult to talk about “mass” trips to Europe – the mass tourist has reoriented to other destinations. At the same time, they are generally in no hurry to refuse Russians in European resorts – as tour operators assure, not a single hotel chain in popular European resorts has refused to work with the Russian market in the upcoming summer season, moreover, hotels have also retained early booking discounts. TEZ TOUR explained that the discount for summer accommodation in hotels in Greece now reaches 35%, in hotels in Italy and Cyprus – up to 15%.
Tour operators also promise to help tourists with visas – and give advice on which countries easier to get to the coveted Europe. The most comfortable, according to consumers, routes are via Istanbul or Dubai, connecting flights with transfers in Yerevan, Baku and Belgrade are considered budget. As a result, prices cannot be called affordable – the average price of a weekly trip to a European beach resort for two in 3-4 * for breakfast will be at the level of 230-280 thousand rubles, most of which will go for air travel. But let us recall that mainly “luxury” tourists are selected to Europe, whose costs are much higher. At the same time, those who wish were warned that “the cost of air tickets is increasing every week.”
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