There are more and more direct flights abroad: sums with three zeros or barbecue in the country?

November added as many as 7 destinations to the list of countries where you can fly from the Russian Federation with direct flights, and also brought a long-awaited reduction in airfare. Of course, they are far from the pre-pandemic level, but in comparison with March and the end of September and the beginning of October of this year, the price tags have fallen very significantly.

With the help of experts, we found out which of the newly added direct regular seasons may be of interest to a mere mortal Russian tourist – in the sense that he is not a millionaire and dreams not of moving, but of an ordinary vacation for a week or two.

For comparison: in March, it was possible to get from the Russian Federation by direct flight to 24 countries, and as of today – to 31. At the same time, according to analysts of the online booking service, compared to the same March, prices in some cases decreased by as much as 154%. True, not popular resorts showed a record drop, but post-Soviet capitals, they are also transport hubs: the prices for a flight to Baku dropped by the same 154%, followed by Yerevan with a price tag drop of 125%.

– However, even now the prices for air travel will not impress anyone with cheapness, – they clarify in the capital travel agency, – just in March and at the end of September the prices were completely inadequate. And now they are going down, but still two times more expensive than pre-coronavirus ones. Below 70 thousand rubles one way – only in Russia.

Tunisia, Thailand, Laos, Qatar, Seychelles and Jordan have already been added to the destinations where Russians can now reach without transfers, and direct flights to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, will start on November 18.

– And what are the cheapest places to go to warmer climes? – we are interested in travel agents.

– It’s hard to say, now all the warm regions are almost equal in price. For example, a week in the “four” with a flight in Bahrain from 249 thousand rubles for two, about the same in Venezuela and Cuba, although they are overseas, and in Egypt, although it is considered a mass destination, and in Goa, although up to pandemic, it was a resort “for the poor.” The cheapest, perhaps, is Iran – about 150 thousand rubles for two for a week of the excursion program. But the country, as you understand, is specific. Plus, eternal summer, like in the UAE, only in the south of the country on the coast of the Persian Gulf, beach holidays only on the islands, and excursions mainly in northern Iran, where it is already cool at this time.

– Tunisia has been added, before it was classified as inexpensive.

– Yes, but now it is exclusive to Turkish tour operators, so the prices are about the same as for the listed destinations. However, in comparison with Serbia, the only country on the European continent, except for the European part of Turkey, where there are direct flights, any tropics are cheap. A week in Serbia – 444 thousand rubles for two.

– Are there, in your opinion, countries underestimated by Russian tourists?

– In my opinion, this is Ethiopia. There are direct flights there, but Russian tourists use them mainly as connecting flights. And few people know that Ethiopia is an interesting country in itself. It’s just that the Russians know little about her. Many do not even know that there is a Red Sea. Rather, formally it is on the territory of Djibouti, but, in fact, Ethiopia and Djibouti are a state within a state.

True, an organized tour to Ethiopia is expensive, like others – from 203 thousand rubles for two per week. But only tickets can be found for 50 thousand rubles round trip, if you specifically “hunt” for them. Another thing is whether tourists decide to go on their own to a country that they really almost don’t know.

Well, for those who, saving time and money, spend the November holidays at home, the Ministry of Emergency Situations made a holiday gift, allowing them to fry kebabs right next to their own dacha (previously, for fire safety purposes, it was necessary to move away from housing at least 50 meters). Together with the permission, the department reminds of precautionary measures: do not light the barbecue in windy weather, do not leave the fire unattended, etc.

In addition, if there is no money for a foreign country, the foreign country itself comes to us. The Russian authorities announced “visa-free travel” for tourists from friendly countries (previously, even before the pandemic, it was quite difficult for citizens of far abroad to obtain a visa to the Russian Federation – an invitation was required from a private person or from a tour operator listed in the unified federal register, and the consular fee was 35 euros ). So, on a national holiday, those who have not left anywhere have every chance to treat tourists from Iran, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and other friendly states to barbecue at their own dacha.