[IMG=20836-6609]‘By the end of August Tunisian charter flights were running at close to full capacity’, claim tour operators working in the market. Until now, an excess of flights to the destination prevented tour operators from achieving this ideal. Moreover, at the end of June, throughout July, and even at the beginning of August, the majority of tour operators were barely - if at all - covering their costs. ‘a price for a tour package to Tunisia in July dropped to $99 (for a week in a 3* hotel), while a ticket cost around $300’ Luzhniky-Tour Director Sergei Kildyashev observed.
The excess of air traffic volume – forecasted even before the season started – was balanced only by August 20th. Megapolus Aviacharter left two out of three daily Il-86 flights with Atlant-Soyuz. Sergei Azarskov, Executive-Director of Megapolus Aviacharter said ‘further changes to our Tunisia charter schedule are planned for the end of September’. Other consolidators also plan to make changes at that time. Anna Podgornaya, Tourism Director of Pegas Touristik, said that ‘in a month’s time we will change our Il-86 to the smaller Boeing-757; at the moment we are running flights at satisfactory capacity levels – the situation has evidently improved’. Lyubov Gulidova, Head of the Tunisian Department CAPITAL TOUR added: ‘thanks to changes within charter flights the price for a tour package to Tunisia has increased and at present has reached $460-$470 (for a week in 3* hotel)’.
Natalia Margolina, Head of the Tunisian Department of ICS Travel Group, noted that ‘high season has started in Tunisia; sales depth is one to two weeks – that is normal for a non-visa requiring country therefore we hope to compensate for the losses in July resulting from the excess of flights at that time’.
It’s important to point out that the majority of tour operators held similar hopes at the end of June, only for the excess of flights to dent their aspirations; however, this doesn’t prevent optimism amongst tour operators.
In general tour operators observe that demand this year is relatively unchanging through high and low season periods. They explain this phenomenon by pointing to high demand for Tunisia amongst tourists from Western Europe to whom local hoteliers give preference - resulting in a shortage of accommodation in June, and the subsequent stop sale position. Natalia Margolina explained that ‘many hotels are still ‘closed’ for booking – the only rooms currently available are blocks of rooms which have been pre-booked; it is difficult to find a room on request’.
