Cheap tours in August: why you should go on vacation at the end of summer

It turns out that there are tours that get cheaper in August – and not at all to the northern seas, where at the end of the calendar summer there is already a full-fledged autumn. Surprisingly, at the peak of the season, popular resorts fall in price, and by the velvet season their prices will return to their place.

We found out what is the secret of the August resort dumping and when is it better to use it?

The fall in August prices for a number of tours surprised even the travel industry experts, who traditionally make reviews of the cheapest and most expensive vacation options in the first days of the month. This August, the Emirates entered the top 5 cheapest beach destinations for domestic vacationers for the first time, having fallen in price by 9% compared to July. In August, you can spend a week by the sea in Sharjah at a price of 110 thousand rubles. for two (round-trip flight and 3* hotel with breakfast included). Tours to the Turkish Riviera and Greater Sochi also fell in price relative to July – both directions fell in price by 15% and cost about the same in August: 70-80 thousand rubles for two for a week with a flight, only air tickets to Turkey are at least three times more expensive. Abkhazia fell by 22% compared to the end of July, in August a tour for two for 10 nights with a flight will cost from 66 thousand rubles. It became 19% cheaper than a month ago, Gelendzhik: 10 nights with a flight -78 thousand rubles. for two. And Anapa is the leader in cheapening prices: prices for tours are 25% lower than in July (from 81.5 thousand rubles for two for 10 days).

– In itself, the “trick” with the August price reduction is not new, – they comment in the capital’s travel agency, – and is due to the fact that all those whose children need to prepare for schools, kindergartens and universities leave the resorts. And by the velvet season, which is preferred by a certain audience, and quite massive, prices will return to their place. In September-October, not only pensioners and people who are contraindicated in the heat, as many people think for some reason, but also companies, both friendly and corporate, relax at the seaside. And also romantic couples, lovers of excursions, on which it is more comfortable in the velvet season than in the heat, as well as those who prefer to relax without crowds and noise. In fact, in the velvet season everything is the same as in summer, only it is not so hot and there are no children’s cries.

However, according to experts, this August has its own specifics: resorts, popular among Russians with children, including domestic ones, have, as always, fallen in price compared to July, but at the same time, compared to last summer, the price tags of domestic Russian tourism still doubled, overtaking even Turkey and Egypt, who were shamed by our tourism industry all year for the “steady rise in prices.”

“That is, Anapa, which has fallen in price by August, which we are so happy about, a year ago, on average, cost not from 80 thousand rubles for two people per week, but from 20-25 thousand rubles,” a travel agent specializing in beach holidays gives an example. – And Turkey and Egypt last August cost the same as this. The difference in the price of tours can only be due to the rates of the carrier, and hotels keep their bar and do not deviate strongly from it either up or down. And our resorts, if they continue to rise in price at such a pace, I don’t know who will afford them. Emirates and Anapa at the same price – where has this been seen?!

In the meantime, those who have already had time to relax in the same Anapa “at Emirates prices”, and these are the same families with children in a hurry to start preparing for September 1, cannot leave their expensive resort: there are no return tickets.

“It is clear that there are no tickets for trains and planes to Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities,” explains 32-year-old Elena, who is stuck in Anapa with her daughter going to the 7th grade. – People with children, as a rule, do not joke with this, and they buy tickets right there and back. But now there is no such peace, because you still have to get to the airport. So I stuck my head in, and all the trains to the Sochi airport were sold out before the end of September. And I have a clear attitude: do not travel long distances with a child in a southern taxi. There are so many cases of unpleasant things on the roads… I haven’t decided what to do yet. There is an option by sea, on a boat, but it is long and expensive. Or regular buses on the bedside tables, which is tiring.

But in August Sochi, where the airport is close at hand and hotels have fallen in price, prices for other services have skyrocketed. “I’ll take a place on the beach for 1000 rubles” – a photo of such an announcement is distributed in Sochi publics. It may be a joke itself, but the phenomenon reflects the real: in Sochi, literally everything is put on “baksheesh” (the designation of a tip in Egyptian resorts – author). For a certain fee, you may be queued for a cable car, for tickets for transport or amusement parks, for beach food, for alcohol, etc. But it’s a pity for the money, you can hang around in the heat yourself: there will be a queue for sure, because it is the income of those who stand in it instead of tourists.

And in the Crimean Feodosia, if you believe the Muscovites vacationing there, the locals who want to make money on the guests do not even steam in the queue, calmly trading in the “shadow”. For only 150 rubles, such figures at dawn, when you are still sleeping, will take a place for you under a canopy, because by 9 in the morning there are free patches on the beach only under the open sun.

According to experts of the tourism industry, today the promise of the authorities to raise charters to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia inspires hope that the price will match the quality.

“Before the pandemic, Southeast Asia was considered by the Russians as a budget destination, now it’s even hard to believe,” says the regional manager of the capital’s travel agency. – It was just about charter flights, which always significantly reduce the cost of the tour. If they appear, and the beneficiaries keep themselves in hand when setting prices for the tourist product, the problem with rest, one might say, will be solved. In Vietnam and Malaysia, the season is all year round, although many Russians travel to Thailand in the summer, although the season there is only from November to April.

In the meantime, charters are in the project, experts advise those who have not yet rested by the sea and are not preparing for school, not to miss the opportunity to sunbathe on the cheaper Black Sea Riviera – the “price fall” will last from August 15 to September 1.