Russian tour operators sell all-inclusive tours to Turkey without alcohol – Kommersant

Russian tour operators offer all-inclusive tours to Turkey without alcohol. At the same time, such tariffs are not popular yet. This was reported press office Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).

Previously, Russian tour operators practically did not offer such tariffs, ATOR noted. Non-alcoholic rates were offered by hotels in Turkey for the local Iranian and Arabic markets.

“But this year we really for the first time added halal hotels and hotels in Turkey with a non-alcoholic concept as an option to the range – at the request of tourists and partners in some regions,” said the ANEX tour operator. Muslims use such tours, in addition, “some categories of tourists want a calm and non-alcoholic format.”

Alcohol-free options are offered by halal hotels – they do not sell alcohol and have separate swimming areas for women. Also, such rates are offered by “secular” hotels, vacations in them on a package without alcohol are cheaper by 7–9%.

At the same time, tour operators surveyed by ATOR noted that alcohol-free hotels are a niche offer for specific groups of tourists. Mostly tour operators now work with halal hotels for Muslims, ordinary alcohol-free hotels and hotels offering non-alcoholic all-inclusive format as an option are in the minority.

At the end of August, the head of the tour operator Bentour Deniz Uur, in an interview with the German Fvw, said that Turkish hotels would increase prices by another 5% in 2024. He proposed to introduce an “all-inclusive system”, including non-alcoholic options, to reduce the prices of vacations. Mr. Uur pointed out that Turkey has high taxes on alcohol, so non-alcoholic all-inclusive options for tourists would be noticeably cheaper.

Olesya Pavlenko