Russian Tour Operators Forecast Stabilization of Demand For Turkey

[IMG=20376-6125]By the middle of last week a number of special offers for Turkey decreased considerably. Travel market players explain the current tendency by the decrease of air traffic volume to the destination. Travel market players either cancel or combine flights upon the current need. Nevertheless, the initiative has a positive impact on the market. It seems that tour operators themselves are tired of the situation – according to different sources, the supply exceeded the demand by 20% referring not only to tour to Antalya, but also to the Aegean coast. Meanwhile, experts point out several reasons that affected the demand for Turkey. Thus, Gennady Kosarev, General Director of Fresh Travel, believes that comparing to the last year the demand for Russian holidays has increased by around 25% stimulated by aggressive promotion campaign of the Black sea resorts and offers for Baikal, Ladoga, Karelia etc. Moreover, Egyptian resorts contributed a lot to the competition. At the moment tours to the Red sea are cheaper than to Turkey – there are offers for $350–400 with accommodation in 3–4*. Besides, popularity of such destinations as Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro provoked outflow of tourist from Turkish resorts. Tatiana Mostobrotskaya, General Director of GoTur, outlined a range of TV programs about tourism among the reasons that affected the demand. Nevertheless, the largest Russian tour operating companies intend to fully realize their summer programs. They forecast the situation will stabilize in the middle of July. Thus, according to Vladimir Kaganer, General Director of TEZ TOUR, the current situation is not a catastrophe for the market: ‘the beginning of July has never been a peak season for Turkey. What we have now is not a drop in demand but lack of its increase. Thus, at the beginning of summer we forecasted a 30% growth. I believe, that soon it will happen stimulated by the ‘postponed’ demand effect. Entrance exams to universities will finish and the situation will stabilize. At the moment, there is excessive supply only for 3-4*, while 5* hotels are well booked and the sales depth is good’. Anna Podgornaya, Sales General Manager of Pegas Touristic, agreed: ‘I always rely on retail chains performance. Agents say that at the moment there are bookings for August. Therefore, we hope that the demand at the end of summer will increase by 25%’.