Do not fall into Westernism – Newspaper Kommersant No. 203 (7404) of 11/01/2022

The increased number of direct flights of Russian carriers to the countries of Southeast Asia, as well as the desire of Russians to apply for a US visa in Kuala Lumpur, have stimulated a noticeable increase in tourist interest in the subregion since the beginning of the month. Thailand and Sri Lanka have already managed to become one of the most popular foreign destinations. But, despite this, experts suggest that the current volume of transportation will allow the tourism industry to reach only 30% of the pre-pandemic volume.

Demand for organized tours to Southeast Asian countries has risen sharply since the end of last week, Igor Blinov, a spokesman for OnlineTur.ru, told Kommersant. We are talking mainly about trips to Thailand, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka. These directions, according to the expert, form 5% of sales of foreign tours for November and up to 15% for the New Year holidays and January, while earlier they were not actually represented.

Travelata.ru points out that since the beginning of October, demand for Southeast Asia has grown 4.5 times; in the week of October 24-30, the countries of the subregion formed 11% of tour operators’ sales. Every second tour Russians buy in Thailand. The representative of Intourist Daria Domostroeva notes that this country and Sri Lanka entered the top 5 most popular off-season foreign destinations, competing with the UAE and the Maldives.

The main reason for the growth in demand in the market is the increase in transportation. Ms. Domostroeva draws attention to the increase in the number of flights to Bangkok, Phuket and Sri Lanka. At the end of last week, Aeroflot resumed flights to Phuket, since November the program from Irkutsk to Thailand was announced by S7 and Icarus. The latter airline also plans flights from Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk. Daria Domostroeva also speaks about the high load of Azur Air charter flights to Sri Lanka from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk. The carrier also announced flights from the regions to India.

Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Dmitry Gorin connects this trend with the gradual expansion of the capabilities of Russian carriers: if in June 44 aircraft from the imported fleet could fly abroad, with the gradual transfer of aircraft to Russian jurisdiction, their number increased to 89.

Added to this are 148 SSJs and flights from foreign carriers. Mr. Gorin states that the share of organized tourists in the direction is growing due to more attractive prices of tour operators. “Often a tour to Thailand costs the same amount as buying air tickets on your own,” he argues.

Igor Blinov notes that the cost of holidays in Thailand now starts from 100-150 thousand rubles. Travelata.ru marketing director Oleg Kozyrev points out that last week a tour to Thailand cost tourists an average of 210 thousand rubles, which is 9% lower than at the beginning of the month. At the same time, the average cost of booking tours to Sri Lanka and India did not change and remained at the level of 170 thousand and 125 thousand rubles. respectively.

In addition, Ms. Domostroyeva adds, Vietnam and Malaysia are also popular with tourists, direct flights with which have not yet been restored. Although in the case of Malaysia, according to the expert, the dynamics may be due to the fact that many Russians apply for a US visa through the consulate in Kuala Lumpur: there are tours with a thematic program on the market.

Igor Blinov calls the growing demand for Southeast Asia a positive signal for the tourism industry: destinations have been virtually absent from the mass organized market since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the market is pinning hopes on them for the winter season. But Daria Domostroeva states that current sales are still incomparable with the volumes of autumn 2019. Dmitry Gorin doubts that the market will be able to reach the pre-pandemic level this year. Before the crisis, the flow of organized tourists to Thailand from the Russian Federation was 1.5 million people a year. According to Mr. Gorin, the existing transportation volume is unlikely to allow reaching more than 30% of the pre-crisis volume.

Alexandra Mertsalova