Tourists stayed at the resorts – Business – Kommersant

Up to 45,000 tourists from Russia may be in Turkey, but the vast majority of them are outside the areas most affected by the earthquake. Tour operators fixing appeals from anxious travelers are not yet faced with the need to evacuate customers or with mass cancellation of tours. During the low season, Turkey remains among the most popular destinations, sales activity has not noticeably decreased.

In Turkey, where today fixed large-scale earthquake, there may be up to 45 thousand independent and organized Russian tourists. Such a preliminary assessment is given by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR). Market participants’ estimates vary. So, one of Kommersant’s interlocutors in the tourist market estimates the number of tourists in the country at about 30-40 thousand people, and Alexan Mkrtchyan, general director of the Pink Elephant travel agency network, believes that there may be up to 120-130 thousand travelers from Russia. In the morning, the Ministry of Economy, citing the operational information of tour operators and the Russian Embassy in Turkey, reported that there were no data on tourists injured during the earthquake.

Most Russians are far from the affected regions, Mr. Mkrtchyan explains. According to him, the main flow of travelers traditionally falls on the western part of Turkey and Russian tourists rarely travel east of Ankara.

Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Dmitry Gorin clarifies that in the affected regions there could be mainly compatriots permanently residing there and individual tourists. It indicates that the market is now in low season. “Turkey is in the top five most popular destinations, but if in the summer there are 750 flights a week from Russia, now there are 150 flights,” explains Mr. Gorin. According to him, 20-30% of passengers are now forming a transit flow through Istanbul.

Tourists who are in Turkey or planning to go on a trip soon are expressing concern, says Daria Domostroyeva, a representative of the Intourist tour operator. According to her, the company receives calls with questions about the possible cancellation of flights, the procedure for action in the event of a deterioration in the situation at the resorts, etc. The tour operator, for its part, monitors the development of the situation.

But market participants do not record cancellations of booked tours at the moment, they said in ATOR.

Aleksan Mkrtchyan also speaks about this and the data of Sletat.ru testify. OneTwoTrip is also not seeing a surge in cancellations of previous bookings so far.

Sletat.ru analysts do not note any changes in the direction booking dynamics. According to the company’s estimates, in February, Turkey generates an average of 14-16% of average daily sales and 42% of sales for the summer period. Dmitry Gorin believes that tourists can monitor the situation in Turkey over the next two to three weeks. If the resort areas are not affected, the situation, in his opinion, will not significantly affect the market. The news background can affect demand, but such fluctuations quickly calm down, adds Oleg Kozyrev, Marketing Director of Travelata.ru. In order to objectively assess the dynamics of demand, he said, it will take several days.

Alexandra Mertsalova