Tour operators urged the government to return subsidies for charters in Russia

Vouchers to the Far East would thus be halved in price

According to analysts, this year the number of tourist trips in Russia will grow by 10-15% to a record high of 80 million. In the context of Western sanctions and the collapse of the ruble, the forecast looks convincing. Moreover, the domestic tourist flow could grow even more if the Russian government returned subsidies for charters, they said at the Discover the Far East forum.

Recall that on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation, 12.6 billion rubles are provided from the treasury to support Far Eastern transportation in 2023. Preferential tickets can be bought not only by residents of the Far East, but also from other regions. Incl. travelers arriving on scheduled flights. For example, if you try hard, then a subsidized ticket from Moscow to Vladivostok or Magadan can be purchased for only 7,400 rubles. And flights between the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District and local flights often cost a penny, since they are also subsidized by regional authorities.

The initiative to return state subsidies for charters predictably caused a discussion in the industry. Some participants supported it, others did not. As the vice-president of ATOR, deputy general director of one of the leading national tour operators, Alexander Sirchenko, told MK, for the development of domestic tourism, it is necessary to restore the subsidization of charter tourist transportation, which was earlier, before the closure of Rostourism. “This will allow organized tourists to reduce the cost of the flight by 50%, which is included in the package tour. Such a step will also improve the competitive environment. When our charters began to fly to Sakhalin, air carriers were forced to reduce ticket prices, ”Sirchenko noted.

“In addition, it is advisable to introduce special tour tariffs. For example, if the region is not very promoted and cannot accept a charter, but tour operators will be able to take blocks from a local airline at a certain Turkish price, which is 25–30% lower than the market. At the same time, we don’t care who will receive subsidies for this,” Sirchenko said. In his opinion, these initiatives will meet the growing demand of Russians for holidays in the Far Eastern Federal District. According to the Khabarovsk governor Mikhail Degtyarev, according to the results of the first half of the year, the flow of tourists to the region increased by more than a third.

However, not all participants of the tourist market supported the initiative. As Artur Agafonov, Deputy General Director of the PressPass agency, noted, the Far East is large and diverse: “Buryatia, for example, has many hotels, good roads, buses, developed competencies with large groups of tourists, and subsidies for receiving wide-body charter aircraft are appropriate in this region. But Kamchatka and Magadan have few quality hotels and prepared expedition vehicles, they are simply not able to receive all the guests who have bought inexpensive package tours.”

He recalled that flights to the Far East are subsidized at a flat rate, and in peak seasons there are not enough cheap tickets for everyone. “If we give places to tourists who paid a small price for a package tour on a charter, then we will actually take places from residents of the Far East flying to the mainland, as well as from independent tourists who, no secret, leave much more money in the regions than organized ones. And this is not entirely correct, ”concluded Artur Agafonov.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29102 dated August 29, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Trips to the Far East can be halved in price