Russians do not reach Egypt – Newspaper Kommersant No. 191 (7392) of 10/14/2022

The recovery of air traffic to Egypt against the backdrop of limited demand from the Russians led to a decrease in prices for organized tours to this country. In some cases, holidays in Egyptian resorts have fallen in price by one and a half times in a month. This is due to the appearance of “burning” offers, which operators manage to implement only a few days before departure. Returning to the Russian tourist market after a long absence, Egypt has not yet met the expectations of the Russians. They prefer to buy tours in the UAE.

The cost of tours to Egypt has dropped sharply: some offers have fallen in price by 50%, to 50 thousand rubles. for a weekly vacation of two people, although in September their cost reached 100-110 thousand rubles. The trend was noticed in Travelata.ru. They note that this is not a seasonal decline, since for Egypt in October-November, traditionally, on the contrary, an active period begins. Travelata.ru analysts attribute the price reduction to the expansion of the flight program by tour operators and the general decline in tourist activity against the backdrop of partial mobilization.

The decline in prices for Egypt is now more pronounced than in other areas, confirms Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

“Sales of tours in general in all tourist destinations have decreased since September 21, but the dynamics is still undulating. On certain days, demand drops by two or three times, and then it recovers,” she explains. Previously, market participants spoke of a 30% decline in sales in all areas.

According to Fun&Sun, the average check for tours to Egypt at the end of September really decreased compared to July. But the company does not note a reduction in demand. Tez Tour also talks about a significant price reduction, indicating that a week-long tour with accommodation in a four-star hotel can now be booked for 33.6 thousand rubles. per person. The company associates this dynamics with the low booking depth: flights are carried out with a full load, but the bulk of requests come three to seven days before departure.

The representative of Intourist, Daria Domostroyeva, explains that the price reduction is observed due to the offers of operators who have already launched charter programs in Egypt: now they have a lot of “hot tours”.

She attributes this to the fact that the destination has not yet partially justified the direction of Russian tourists, having returned to the market after a long absence. The problems are added by the quality of Egyptian hotels that fell at the height of the pandemic, the lack of the ability to pay with Russian cards in the country, adds Ms. Domostroeva. According to her, now the demand for Egypt remains rather unstable: tourists prefer the UAE to it.

Air traffic with Egypt was significantly limited after a terrorist attack was the main cause of the crash of a plane with Russian tourists over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015. Subsequently, regular communication with Cairo was resumed, charter programs were postponed for a long time and fully started only in November 2021. But in the spring of 2022, the frequency of flights again dropped sharply against the backdrop of Western sanctions that Russian carriers faced. By autumn, major tour operators and carriers managed to increase the frequency of flights again.

In October, the average check for booking tours to Egypt is 120 thousand rubles, having decreased by 22% compared to September, Travelata.ru notes. Sharm el-Sheikh, the most popular resort among Russian tourists, forms 49% of sales of tours to the country. The average price of a tour to this resort for the month decreased by 21%, to 125 thousand rubles. A similar trend is observed in Hurghada, which accounts for 41% of sales. Here, the average cost of booking per month decreased by 23%, to 115 thousand rubles. In the case of the less popular Makadi and Sahl-Hashish tours fell in price by 26%, to 122 thousand rubles, and by 16%, to 138 thousand rubles, respectively.

Alexandra Mertsalova