Tour bookings to popular summer destinations Sochi and Crimea have increased by 81% and 201%, respectively, this year. Tour operators and travel agents told TRN today about this. The reasons for the increase, hotel prices, and forecasts for the season are discussed. in our material.
Comparing the growth rates of domestic tourism in Crimea and Sochi this year with last, the former's performance is far more impressive than that of Sochi, although demand for the latter has nevertheless increased. Some observers attribute this effect to higher prices for outbound travel, while others point to the active development of the peninsula's tourism infrastructure and media coverage. "If we convert the amount of airtime and print media coverage devoted to Crimea into monetary terms, we'd reach tens of millions of dollars. Naturally, such active support could not help but influence the preferences of Russian tourists," says Sergey Romashkin, CEO of Delfin.
Oksana Kitel, Commercial Director of KRIST, also confirms Crimea's increased popularity thanks to active media support. "Crimea is trendy, accessible, and interesting. Moreover, they decided to waive the resort tax, which has added to Crimea's appeal. Sochi is looking a bit more modest this year," the expert said.
Sergey Romashkin offered another explanation for the emerging trend of traveling to Crimea. "Nowadays, tourists value mobility and want to see as many interesting things as possible in one trip, and therefore increasingly prefer to travel around Russia by car," the expert says.
Here, too, Crimea benefits from its stunning structure, the Crimean Bridge, which, according to experts, generates approximately 5–7% of the total increase in demand by 20%.
Regarding Turkey's influence, observers say it ceased to impact sales at Russian resorts back in 2017, when it returned to the Russian tourism market. There was simply an organic redistribution of demand.
Regarding pricing for the 2019 summer season, as Ilya Umansky, CEO of Alean, notes, hoteliers in Crimea and Sochi have taken a measured approach to rates, and price increases have not exceeded the inflation rate of 5–10%. Furthermore, observers say hoteliers no longer operate by the principles and rules of 2016, when prices for the season were set once and never changed. Rates now depend on occupancy and can change several times a day, which naturally has a positive impact on the overall image of these destinations, given the acute price sensitivity of customers.
Sergey Romashkin explained that last year, many Sochi hotels ended up operating in the red, despite high occupancy rates. However, the hotels were booked by World Cup fans, typically for a couple of days, which in turn made rooms unavailable to tourists staying longer. Therefore, this year, Sochi hoteliers are being more flexible in their pricing.
Source: trn-news.ru