Vice-President of ATOR Romashkin told where the Russians will go on vacation in the fall

Summer is counting down its last days. But there are many who are planning a vacation in the first autumn months, when the heat subsides, the fruits ripen, and the lines to the sights disappear. About where the Russians will go to rest this fall, we talked with the vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Sergey Romashkin.

“Demand in the velvet season to some extent inherits the trends of the summer season,” notes Sergey Romashkin. – Those directions that performed well in the summer are also leaders in the first autumn months. First of all, this is a beach holiday. The leader here is still the Krasnodar Territory. We see here a very good load for September and October. In second place is Crimea, despite all the problems that were there in the summer. Rest on the Crimean peninsula remains the number 2 destination on the Black Sea. This year Crimea will receive about 4.5 million tourists. This is slightly worse than Sochi, but better than, for example, Anapa.

In third place, according to Sergei Romashkin, is Abkhazia.

“Demand here is also quite high. These are subtropics. Autumn in Abkhazia is a couple of degrees warmer than in the same Sochi. And the sea cools down later.

The fourth place is held by Caucasian Mineralnye Vody.

– It is noteworthy that those tourists who wanted to buy a ticket to the resorts of Pyatigorsk, Zheleznovodsk, Kislovodsk and Essentuki a month before the start of the holiday were faced with the fact that there were no places for a long time. Now we are sold out for almost the whole of September and only the beginning of October is available for booking.

The high season is over. Prices at resorts in September, according to the expert, are reduced by 25-30%.

– Tourists who have a rest without schoolchildren can save a lot during the velvet season. But this price dynamics does not apply to the resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters. They believe that September and October are just the same high season. Partly this is a marketing statement, partly they are right about something. Since climatologists believe that it is necessary to be treated approximately in the region that, in terms of temperature, is close to the place where you came from. That is, if it is +20 in Moscow, and you come to be treated in Sochi, where it is +36, it will not be very good for your health. Prices at the resorts of the Caucasian Mineralnye Vody do not decrease in autumn, since all the vouchers have already been sold out.

As for Kaliningrad, according to Sergey Romashkin, there are two streams of tourists there.

– One is a purely beach stream, vacationers are based in Svetlogorsk and Zelenogradsk. There, the season is already ending in early September, the water in the Baltic cools down very quickly. The second stream, comparable in volume, is excursion tourists who do not live on the coast, but in Kaliningrad itself. The season of sightseeing tours will last there for another couple of months.

As for sightseeing destinations, here the leaders, according to the expert, are two capitals – Moscow and St. Petersburg. Next comes the “Golden Ring of Russia” – a journey through the ancient cities of North-Eastern Rus’. As well as Kazan, which is called the “Third Capital of Russia”.

– Of the foreign destinations, Türkiye is in the lead. Egypt, Thailand, as well as the Emirates are gaining momentum, where the heat ends, and the high season lasts from October to February. These countries will be in demand, again, if there is no jump in the dollar. We see that the devaluation has a bad effect on sales. There are still quite a few people who are ready to go on vacation at a dollar exchange rate of 90 rubles. And at a rate of 103 rubles, the last lucky ones are already left who earn quite well.

According to a popular flight search engine, 66% of Russian travelers will fly to Russian cities this fall. As Svetlana Likhacheva, communications manager for the service, told MK, Sochi remains the most popular destination. On average, you need to pay 18,500 rubles for round-trip air tickets. Saint-Petersburg firmly entrenched in the second place. For the purchase of round-trip air tickets to the Northern capital, you need to prepare an average of 12 thousand rubles. Most travelers will fly to St. Petersburg from Kazan, Samara and Yekaterinburg.

Moscow occupies the third place in terms of the number of air ticket bookings. Following are Kaliningrad and Mineralnye Vody. Most tourists to the oldest resorts in the Stavropol Territory will fly from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan. On average, round-trip plane tickets to Mineralnye Vody cost 15,000 rubles.

Of the foreign destinations, Istanbul traditionally remains the most popular among Russians this autumn. Planes fly to the capital of Turkey from 19 Russian cities. The average round-trip booking check is 30,800 rubles. In second place in popularity this fall is Antalya, where round-trip tickets cost an average of 38,700 rubles. Bangkok ranks third in terms of the number of bookings. The average check there is 57,800 rubles. Next comes Tel Aviv (63,100 rubles) and Phuket (71,700 rubles).