Excess of Charter Flights To Crete

[IMG=20364-6117]The beginning of July has been marked with a wide range of special offers for tour packages to Crete. Thus, a minimum price for a 7-day tour with accommodation in a 3* hotel is 399 Euro, that, according to experts, is around 200 Euro cheaper than a catalogue price for tours to the destination. Tour operators explain the current situation by two factors. Firstly, there is a traditional drop in demand in the middle of summer. Elena Komarova, Tourism Director of IntAir, said: ‘Apparently, the sales slow down is provoked by the fact that the middle of summer is the hottest period in Russia, therefore, tourists do not need to look for sun abroad. Besides, this period is traditionally marked with increase in hotel rates that also prevents growth of demand’. Secondly, experts point out the excess of air traffic volume to Iraklion. You may recall from earlier News Bulletins (news/31/03), that on July 2nd a weekly Aeroflot program consolidated by Inna Tour (news/15/06), was added to the existing charters. Thus, Victoria Kizimova, Tourism Director of UTE Megapolus group, explained: ‘at the moment there is a shortage of hotel rooms on the island’. Meanwhile, the consolidators realize the implications of the current excess of flights. Therefore, some of them took a decision to terminate their charter programs and to unite with other players. For example, Mouzenidis Travel terminated its daily flights by Kras Air Boeing-737 on July 2nd and starting from July 9th its clients will fly by a flight to Crete consolidated by Neva Travel Company. At the moment further changes are not defined. However, Aeroflot plan to launch its second charter program to the destination starting from July 20th. Meanwhile, experts hope it will not be necessary to terminate other programs. ‘The situation will soon stabilize’, believes Revaz Mgeladze, General Director Deputy of Zeus Travel.