Domestic tourism against the background of total sanctions against our country should be attractive, affordable and in constant development. But how are things really going?
As for attractiveness, no question. Almost. Because there are many beautiful places in Russia. Here is the nature and architecture of our cities. There is something to see, where to visit. But several factors add a good fly in the ointment to this barrel of attractiveness.
One of these not very pleasant moments for travelers is the infrastructure. It includes both the road surface in the intended places where the Russian traveler should, in theory, strive, and hotel complexes. Many of which, alas, either clearly do not reach the level to which many Russians are already accustomed when traveling abroad, or they are alarmed by the high cost of living. Not very adequate in terms of price-quality service. In many cases, it is better to keep silent about the road infrastructure. For we have not yet moved away from the fact that in many places we do not have “roads”, but “directions”. We will also ignore the hotel infrastructure for now — this is a separate topic.
Availability. We will not take into account travel and flight time. Our country is large and the distances are often such that it is impossible to get there quickly. But the transportation costs are somehow not very attractive. Quite often, those who like to travel say: somehow it is not adequate for us – it is much cheaper to fly abroad on a tourist trip than to travel in our own country.
No, the “Golden Ring of Russia”, at least for those who live in the European part of our country, is financially accessible. But Siberia, the Far East, Kamchatka — everything is more complicated here. More expensive. And the same “Golden Ring” will be too expensive for Siberians and Far Easterners, to put it mildly. Air travel in our native country, alas, does not strive for cheapness.
But, even with the already high prices, the expenditure part of the traveler in Russia is constantly growing. Which, in principle, is not surprising against the background of inflation.
But still. For example, charter flights. Alexander Sirchenko, Deputy General Director of the tour operator FUN&SUN, Vice President of ATOR, spoke about this at the recently held Forum for the Development of Sustainable Tourism “Travel” in Kamchatka:
When launching the first charter flights to Sakhalin, the cost of a week-long tour started from 40 thousand rubles. Currently, such a ticket with a flight, accommodation and two excursions will cost 100 thousand rubles. In order to form tours now, we have to shorten the time and divide this tourist product into a shorter one. As a result, the tour program to the island region for the same amount was reduced to 3-4 days,” Alexander Sirchenko argues.
Are there many people willing to give a lot of money (but this is not all the expenses for the tour) in 3-4 days, in which you will not have time to see much? Meanwhile, charter flights, which were subsidized by the state not so long ago, remained without state support. And without this, it is hardly possible to talk about cheaper flights for tourist groups. This means an increase in tourist flows. Today, travel companies form tours by blocking seats on regular flights. Which also does not lead to lower prices for domestic flights.
As a result, from a financial point of view, when the costs clearly do not correspond to the level of service, Russian travel to the Far East, Sakhalin and Kamchatka is unlikely to become more attractive in the near future. Judge for yourself: according to the chairman of the Kamchatka Tourism Industry Association, Elena Lasalle, currently almost 60% of tours to the region are in the range from 100 to 200 thousand rubles. Offers up to 100 thousand rubles are only 20%. And we are talking about the development of mass tourism.
In an environment where most of our citizens are already quite limited in funds, the high cost of tours will not lead to the desired result. No matter how the opposite happens. And something has to be done about it. What? Experts should answer this question. That’s why they exist.
Источник: argumenti.ru
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