the most important resort cities like Simferopol, as well as Anapa and Gelendzhik. In turn, the tour operators of the domestic market note two trends – this is the tendency to relax closer to home, and also – oddly enough, the trend for an earlier start of the season in the “typical” resorts of the Russian south – some hotels are ready to open in April. However, the start of the season is obviously shifting to the right due to the extended no-fly zone for tourist flights.
The official message from the Federal Air Transport Agency reads as follows: “Until March 26, 2022, 03:45 Moscow time, the temporary restriction of flights to Russian airports in the south and central part of Russia has been extended. Flights are temporarily restricted to the following airports: Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, Elista. To organize the transportation of passengers to closed airports, Russian airlines are recommended to organize the transportation of passengers on alternative routes using the airports of Sochi, Volgograd, Mineralnye Vody, Stavropol and Moscow. Thus, Sochi, as the most convenient “resort” airport, takes on the main “tourist load”.
Tour operators, commenting on the situation in the domestic market, noted two main trends. Tourists met the beginning of the special operation with a decline in applications, however, the cashback introduced on March 15 somewhat revived demand, they also note. The first trend is the caution of tourists, as a rule they book tours to a shallow depth – from a week to a month, and do this mainly in their home or neighboring region. “In March and April, the highest demand is for hotels “close to home”: which can be reached by car or by train, 2-4 hours from the place of residence. Apparently from the motive, so that “if something happens”, you can quickly return,” said Alexey Vysokanov, founder and CEO of the Atelika and Divny Mir hotel chains, for example.
However, the cashback program “spurred” the demand for resorts in the Krasnodar Territory and Crimea. As a separate point, we note that there is a decline in bookings, but there are no refusals from previously made applications, travel market experts also noted “shifts” in the traditional framework of the season. “Many hotels in the Krasnodar Territory and Crimea, which traditionally opened at the end of May, have shifted the opening dates to earlier dates – they start the season at the end of April,” Alexey Vysokanov commented in his speech.
Another interesting trend noted by experts is that after leaving the Booking market, small hotels actively began to try to cooperate with tour operators. Therefore, most likely the role of traditional travel agencies in the domestic market will increase significantly. Moreover, the remaining booking systems on the market “broken” such commissions to hotels that they complained to the government – read the details at the link.
For those who value a healthy lifestyle, we recommend reading: “8 hours is a myth : scientists told how many hours a person really needs to sleep every day.
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