Russian tourists have adapted to the problems of domestic resorts and have decided on the TOP-5 resorts in Russia for the summer of 2023. In general, according to ATOR experts of the domestic market, the growth of summer bookings amounted to 30% compared to the previous year. There are no special surprises – these are mainly traditional beach resorts, as well as Minvody and Dagestan, which is included in this list.
Market experts considered the main factor to be “tourists' acceptance of the fact that Russia's southern airports are closed”. “If last spring and early summer tourists still had hope for the resumption of flights to Simferopol and Anapa in the summer season, then this year there are no such expectations. Therefore, everyone who needs to plan trips taking into account the changed logistics. People understand that they will have to get to a number of southern resorts with closed airports by train or car, ”says Sergey Romashkin, general director of the Dolphin tour operator. At the same time, tourists are ready to book holidays at our resorts in advance, as long as there is an attractive price for tickets and hotels, and in general, the demand for holidays continues to grow. Tour operators call figures from 30 to 57% – also because holidays in Russia are “a stable option during a period of turbulence.”
As for the top 5 domestic destinations leading in sales of the summer season 2023, the tour operators named the following participants:
- Krasnodar Territory (Sochi, Anapa, Gelendzhik),
- Abkhazia (from the point of view of the tourist market, it is technically an “internal” direction, since the tours are ruble-denominated and arrive in Sochi),
- Caucasian Mineralnye Vody,
- Kaliningrad
- Dagestan .
According to Dolphin, Abkhazia shows the largest growth: by 50-60%. The main growth factor is affordable prices.
Alean described the situation in the Black Sea resorts: Sochi is the leader in the 2023 summer sales ranking with a share of 26%, followed by Anapa with 17%, which has grown compared to last year, despite the stopped air traffic. Due to the “healthy lifestyle trend”, Kavminvody also grew – from 11 to 17% in the share of sales.
The presence of Kaliningrad was originally explained: Intourist noted that, given the constant shortage of places in hotels and sanatoriums of the most western the Russian region, tourists are used to booking this destination in advance.
As for Crimea, which did not make it into the top 5 for obvious reasons – including due to the closure of the airport, so far the situation with booking tours there is close to last year. As Sergei Romashkin notes, demand is 35-40% lower, but Crimea closes the TOP-3 in the summer sales of Dolphin, as well as Intourist. Tour operators assume that Crimea will win back its place in the summer due to car tourists.
“In the absence of force majeure, the demand for summer holidays in Russia will only increase as we approach the start of the season,” experts say. At the same time, they focus on the policy of hoteliers in relation to tour operators and the retail travel agency link: if there are no incidents with luring tourists with direct discounts, as well as breaking contracts and raising prices in the middle of the season, this will ensure successful sales for tour operators, and hotels – loading, including and low season.
For those who care about a healthy lifestyle, we recommend reading: “Those who want to lose weight were advised how to burn an additional 1000 calories per day without straining.”