Dumping had happened

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Because of the saturation of supply of flights to Bangkok (see news of 24.10), an unpleasant situation for operating companies occurred on the market – to fill in the seats, some of them had to drop their prices on packages considerably. During the week, ‘BANKO travel-inform’ bulletin is being supplied with air tickets for the price of $350 (with the price cost of the flights of $550–570) and tours for $400–600. ‘The month of November has turned out to be a month of very low prices,’ says Tatiana Vand, director of ‘Vand international tour’. ‘Most tickets are offered under the cost price by 30-40%’. This way, experts’ prognoses about dumping in the beginning of the season came true and the forecast is no more comforting. According to the players, the situation will last approximately till the 25th of December and it is hard to tell what will happen after the New Year holidays. However, if the flights do not reduce in quantity, the company will keep loosing money.
   Operators interviewed by BANKO note that the final step towards reducing the volume should be made by the players who fly to Bangkok with new airlines. However reducing flights is not yet an issue in hand, as market players prefer to fill the seats at their own loss. Along with this, the demand for the flights is not as large as the Thailand destination has not increased its popularity since last year. ‘However, considering the fact that the destination suffered because of the tsunami, even difficult sales is comforting’, says Maxim Lobaniv, ‘Pax company’ president. On the other hand, holiday-makers profit because they have an opportunity to visit Bangkok cheaply.