How much will it cost to travel along Russian rivers?
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River cruises in Russia have become significantly more expensive. As Kommersant FM found out, the price increased from 7% to 12% depending on the ship and the level of service. But this does not stop tourists. Half of all places for the next navigation season have already been booked, sales are also open for 2025. There are practically no free cabins left even for expensive expedition tours to the North Pole. They are bought by foreigners. There are so many people willing that there are not enough ships. What is happening in the passenger river shipping market? And how much does it cost to see Russia from the water? Aelita Kurmukova found out.
Navigation on the Moscow River opens in late April. The first cruise routes are planned for the same dates. The most convenient, perhaps, are weekend tours. But now they are not budget at all. On the first May holidays, for example, you can travel from Moscow to Uglich and back for at least 35 thousand rubles. per person – this is standard, lower deck in a cabin for three.
Luxury cabins – from 70 thousand rubles: three meals a day without drinks, three types of excursions, but you can only choose one. And in Tver for the same dates only deluxe cabins remained – from 80 thousand rubles. “Grand Deluxe” with a balcony costs almost 200 thousand rubles. And if you take expedition tours – along the Yenisei, for example, the price tag there starts from 500 thousand rubles. But this is for a week. And even this price does not stop tourists, the demand for cruises is higher than in 2023, says Ilya Suhovolsky, Deputy General Director for Development of the Vodokhod company:
“Currently, about 45% of all our cruise offers are booked, the cost is growing along with the consumables, which are increasing for cruise operators.
Excursion services increase prices. Some partners offer the cost of their services 30-40% higher than last year. There are not enough certified guides in the cities, we have to somehow compensate. Naturally, we do not directly raise the cost of tours by 30%; on premium ships the indexation is slightly higher – up to 12%.”
Cruise ships transported about 400 thousand passengers along Russian rivers last year. And the forecasts for this year are even slightly higher. Now there are two dozen cruise companies operating on the market, but the main part is covered by four. Domestic tourism has opened up additional opportunities for players, they are not only launching new routes, attracting media personalities on deck, but also expanding their own fleet. And they are already selling tours to ships that are docked at shipyards.
The river cruise schedule opens a year in advance. And then you can save up to 10%. Therefore, now there are practically no budget options left. But until the end of February there is still an “early booking” promotion. The maximum discount reaches 7%. There are a couple of months left before the opening of navigation, but a number of unresolved issues remain, adds Alexander Sosnin, founder of the Constellation cruise company:
“What is probably seriously hindering us now is the low depths on the Volga between Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets. The issue is being resolved. But for the next two years, there will probably still be low capacity in this section. There are not enough buses in some cities. We learn about this from our partners who receive our tourists. And sometimes we have to change the schedule.”
Not only guides and transport companies, but also the cities themselves were unprepared for the influx of Russians; the infrastructure simply does not allow accepting such a number of ships. And besides Russians, more and more foreigners, mainly from China, are now coming ashore.
They are interested not only in cruises to St. Petersburg, but also in the North Pole. However, there is another problem – there are not enough ships, notes Vadim Mamontov, CEO of RussiaDiscovery, head of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST) Committee on Adventure Tourism: “This year, the three cruise programs to the North Pole will be about 50% foreigners, mainly residents of China.
The situation is dramatic – there are no courts
Foreigners, for obvious reasons, left these areas. There is no opportunity to meet the growing demand in foreign markets, but quite a lot of good expedition-class vessels have now been launched in the world. But our Russian Arctic and Far East are closed to them.
This is, of course, a good opportunity to help with the renovation of old Russian scientific vessels. But so far this issue has not been resolved, although there was an instruction from the president a couple of years ago at the Eastern Economic Forum to carry out such a renovation with Rosgeologiya or the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia.”
And such a renovation could bring good money into the budget from foreign tourists. All summer cruises to the North Pole in 2024 are practically sold out, Kommersant FM’s interlocutors share. The asking price is from 2.5 million rubles. for a two-week trip from Murmansk. A luxury ride on an icebreaker to the Arctic will cost 4 million rubles. per person.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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