''People should forget about last minute travel offers''
Tour operators predict a rise in price for air transport service next summer and tell about a withering away of a whole direction from sale
The collapse of VIM-Avia and, as a consequence, a number of measures on toughening the rules for charter flights can cause a price growth for tours next summer and a disappearance of last minute travel offers. Tour operators themselves are telling about this. At the same time, the head of Tatarstan association of travel agencies said that such last minute offers have long disappeared from the market but agrees with a possible increase in transportation cost. Read the details in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
One can say good bye to last minute offers?
The Association of Tour Operators [ATOR] of Russia has already attended to the following summer season and based on the comments of interviewed experts come to the conclusion that charter flights may increase in price. The reasons for this are several factors. First, a significant increase in cost of jet fuel over the past six months. Second, a simple lack of fleet, which will not be able to cover the demand of the next summer season. Not the last role has been played by the collapse of VIM-Avia, which was followed by a series of measures to tighten the rules for charter flights, which continue to be discussed and implemented. By the way, after the withdrawal of the registered in Tatarstan airline, on the website of Rosaviation one can see very few delays of charter flights, there are even no delays on some days at all.
At the same time, along with the risks, part of budget proposals is also disappearing from the market. According to NTK Intourist estimates, if this summer the ticket from Moscow to Sochi under a charter contract cost 8,000-9,000 rubles, in 2018 the chair will rise in price to 15,000 rubles, and the price for this domestic destination can rise by 25%. Director general of the tour operator Vipservis Dmitry Gorin tells about a growth in fuel prices over the year by 30% and predicts a growth in price for charter transportation by 10%.
Interviewed ATOR experts suggest that if next year it fails to achieve parity between supply and demand due to coming on the market of additional aircrafts, it will be possible to speak about a possible increase in prices for charter flights and a lack of available seats in aircrafts, and as a consequence — parting with last minute offers for mass destinations such as Turkey.
Almost no tickets
The head of the Association of travel agencies of Tatarstan and director general of Persona Grata travel agency, Ramil Miftakhov, draws attention to the fact that already today there are no so-called last-minute travel offers on the market.
Considering how tour operators are being engaged in optimization, booking trending is serious enough and there are almost no available seats. If earlier, for example, on certain dates there were three flights, now there is one for three operators,'' said the interlocutor of the edition.
According to him, due to this reason there is a high price, distribution starts at least 2-3 weeks before and, therefore, virtually no losses.
''Thus, one should forget about the myth about last minute offers — there is already no such thing as a last minute offer. It remained from the last century when they used to cost $100 and when the operators were engaged in high-risk programmes,'' Ramil Miftakhov says.
''Certainly, competition in this sense will disappear''
But an increase in fuel price, according to the head of Association of travel agencies of the Republic of Tatarstan, will affect all air transportation. Another factor influencing a growth of prices is the withdrawal from the market of VIM-Avia, which further crippled the competition among airlines.
''It had medium-haul aircrafts of large capacity. Certainly, competition in this sense will disappear. There will be a shortage of fleet, and this, accordingly, will also affect the cost of transportation,'' says Miftakhov.
The head of the tourism division of Skyland Travel, Alyona Surovtseva, also notes that in such conditions an absence of competition goes without saying.
''There have become less carriers, and it's not very pleasant in terms of that there is less choice, the airlines become monopolies, dictate their prices and there is no competition as such,'' Surovtseva says.
Accordingly, the speaker does not exclude a transportation cost rising, reduction in number of last minute offers and overall choice for tourists. ''This is a very real course of events,'' concludes the head of the tourism division of Skyland Travel.
All this, in the first place, will affect the summer tourist season, which is the most busy and active as in winter the most popular tourist destinations are closed. So now, according to Miftakhov, the problems with lack of aircrafts are not being felt. As well as a price growth, which remains at the level of last year.
At the same time, Surovtseva notes that a solution to the problem can be increasing the number of aircrafts which given consistently high demand are possible to take in leasing. As an example of such experience she cited the airline FlyDubai, which due to a large load increased a number of flights, whereby the flights from Kazan will be performed every day.