This year’s production calendar is ready for a full-fledged spring trip. Two 4-day holiday periods plus weekends and super-short working weeks (two to three days) between them allow, if possible, as much as 15 days of rest.
In 2023, there were much fewer holidays and, accordingly, combinations – only two times for three days. Mainly due to this feature of the current spring, both tour operators and travel planning services note a significant increase in demand for booking tickets and accommodation compared to last year. Vestnik ATOR, which analyzed the data on the sale of tours in Russia, notes that the figures for 2024 are already 30-40% higher than the data for 2023. The depth of tour bookings reached 2.5 months, which is 50% more than in 2023.
If we take the directions, then the domestic top 10 of organized tourism is practically unchanged: Krasnodar Territory (Sochi, Anapa, Gelendzhik, Krasnaya Polyana), St. Petersburg, Caucasian Mineral Waters, Kaliningrad region, Dagestan, Moscow and the Moscow region, Crimea, Kazan, Karelia and river cruises.
The preferences of independent travelers were analyzed by one of the popular travel planning services. The service’s specialists collected data on hotel and airline ticket bookings in Russia and abroad in the period from April 27 to May 12.
According to flight booking data in Russia, Moscow became the most popular city for May travel, Kaliningrad took the second place in the rating, and Sochi closes the top three. Next in descending order are: St. Petersburg, Mineralnye Vody, Yekaterinburg, Makhachkala, Ufa, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk. Among the foreign destinations, Turkey is the most in demand among Russians, followed by Indonesia and China. Japan, Georgia, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Thailand, the UAE and Armenia also entered the top 10 (4.0%). Compared to last year, Russians’ interest in traveling to Japan and Georgia has tripled, and to South Korea has doubled. Most of the top 10, interest in Armenia decreased by 50% and Uzbekistan by 30%.
Booking top 10 hotels in Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Adler, Kazan, Sochi, Esto-Sadok, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad. Foreign top 10: Dubai, Minsk, Yerevan, Rome, Paris, Antalya, Barcelona, Tbilisi, Bangkok and Istanbul.
Cataclysms, catastrophes, emergencies
There are no organized tourists in the flood–stricken Orenburg region – tours to the Orenburg region are popular with tourists in early May, during the flowering season of wild Schrenka tulips, which are listed in the Red Book. Aeroflot Airlines announced that they would not cancel flights to Orenburg and Orsk, all flights to these cities are operated on schedule. At the same time, passengers can issue a forced refund of the cost of transportation until April 20 or change the departure date to any one, up to and including April 25 of the current year, while maintaining the route.
In the city of Vyazma, Smolensk region, an overpass collapsed on railway tracks.
The movement of passenger trains on the Vyazma – Semlyovo section was suspended. The connection between Moscow, Smolensk and Minsk was organized bypassing the Vyazma station, and passengers of the Moscow – Minsk Swallows and passengers of the Smolensk – Vyazma commuter trains between Semlevo and Vyazma stations are transported by compensation buses. However, it was possible to clear the tracks and resume movement along the route interrupted due to the collapse of the bridge in less than a day.
In Antalya, Turkey, one of the pillars of the funicular that carried tourists to the peak of Mount Tunektepe, located 15 km west of the center of Antalya, collapsed (broke off from the base). The entertainment is expensive – about $10 in 9 minutes on the way – but popular. At the time of the accident, about 200 passengers were stuck in the cabins of the funicular. The detached support of the funicular caught one of the cabins, the floor collapsed in it, people fell out on the rocky surface, 1 person was killed, seven were injured. People stuck in the cabins were evacuated to the ground by ropes suspended from helicopters.
Aviation troubles
Another flight program of the Turkish airline Southwind Airlines has been canceled. Tour operator Pegas informed travel agents that there will be no announced flights to the Greek island of Crete from Antalya. It offers as an alternative a vacation in Turkey or a full refund. It is modestly silent about whether the costs of purchasing a Schengen visa by organized tourists will be compensated. Flights to Heraklion were to be operated from May 27 to October 3 from Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Omsk, Samara, St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk with a connection in Antalya.
Since April 11, Red Wings Airline has halved the carry-on baggage allowance on its flights, from 10 to 5 kg.
But if the ticket is purchased before April 11 with a departure date from May 20, or if the ticket is purchased later than April 11 with a departure date until May 20, 2024, then the previous standards apply. In addition to the size, the dimensions of hand luggage have also shrunk – from a normal “cabin size” (55*40*25 see) before 40*30*20 See The airline warns that during check-in and boarding, the size of hand luggage is checked through a special calibrator frame. If the passenger’s belongings do not match the size of the calibrator, they will be asked to put them in the luggage. If the ticket does not include baggage transportation, then it will need to be paid at the rates set by the carrier.
We have already written (AN No. 10) that we do not recommend flying to Mexico on Turkish Airlines flights.
Recall that the airline, fearing in advance the deportation of passengers accused by Mexican border guards of not meeting the objectives of the visit (emigration to the United States instead of a vacation in Cancun), at the expense of the carrier, is furious when boarding in Istanbul, refusing to fly for a bunch of far–fetched reasons – for example, a “clean” passport, lack of return ticket, luggage or visas to the USA. But numerous cases of boarding refusals previously concerned mainly independent travelers. However, last week, this attack overtook the VIP clients of one of them.
So, the introductory data – three tourists paid 45 thousand US dollars for a trip to Cancun. Turkish Airlines business class flight, a decent hotel for two weeks. Of course, you can emigrate to the United States anyway, maybe a private illegal business jet in Malibu was waiting for the girls in Cancun – you can’t forbid living beautifully, but it’s still unlikely. With all the above-mentioned introductory boarding in Istanbul, they were not allowed, and no official documents were issued. But they let me take a picture of the message: “Since you have never been to such powerful countries as America, Canada and England before, you will not be able to fly according to the rules of the Mexican government” (style and spelling are preserved).
The tour operator, to put it mildly, is furious, as he must reimburse the travelers for the cost of the failed tour, and intends to “go all the way” in establishing the truth about the incident. We will be watching with interest. Life hacks, how to safely get on a beach vacation in Mexico, we will not tell you yet.
Ural Airlines has once again distinguished itself. This time, on a flight from Sochi to Moscow, there was a scuffle between passengers and crew members. The conflict arose due to the fact that the flight was delayed due to a technical malfunction, passengers, as usual, were left in the cabin, there is practically no air conditioning on the ground in the cabin, and although the crew opened the rear doors and distributed water, the conflict was inevitable – in the subjective opinion of AN-Tourism. This time, thank God, no one died (see “AN” No. 13 “Death in Bangkok”), but keeping people in the shower room to shorten the time the plane stays at the airport is a so–so business plan in terms of customer orientation. In fairness, we note that any other airline could have been (and was, for example, in Bangkok) in place of the Uralians.
The direct flight from Novosibirsk to Myanmar, launched in September 2023, may be closed due to low demand. Aircraft occupancy varies from 15 to 60 passengers, with the ability of the aircraft to carry 156 people, said the Consul General of the Republic in Novosibirsk Pyom Pyow Wei. According to him, the airline has already received a $6 million loss.
Visa News
Thailand is actively promoting the “Asian Schengen”. According to the Prime Minister of the kingdom, Sretta Tavisin, “Schengen” will allow tourists from all over the world to travel freely between six neighboring countries: Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam. However, Russians do not need visas there anyway, at least for a short vacation period.
The Chinese Visa Application Center seems to be tired of queues in the corridors and decided to change the registration system for applying for a visa. Since April 15, the EC in Moscow has launched a system for receiving coupons in a queue online. To receive the voucher, you must select the time for arrival at the visa application center.
A technical glitch continues at VFS Global visa application centers, due to which applicants cannot make an appointment, submit documents and track the status of their application. The force majeure situation has been going on for more than a week, and when everything will work again, the visa provider does not inform. In these circumstances, visa centers are trying to organize the workflow themselves. Thus, the EC of France began to record the submission of documents in Moscow or St. Petersburg through an information line by phone. The visa centers of Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden ask applicants to write to the post office and specify the dates and purpose of the planned trip in a letter.
Israel is radically changing the rules of entry. Russian citizens who do not require a visa to travel to Israel will need to obtain an electronic entry permit (ETA). The innovation, according to preliminary data, will start working as early as June 1, 2024. To receive an ETA, you will need to fill out an online form in advance with details of your upcoming trip to Israel and have a standard set of documents with you, including a valid passport. An ETA application may be rejected if the data in the online questionnaire was incorrect or incomplete. An entry permit may also be refused if the foreigner has a serious criminal past or has previously violated the conditions of stay in Israel. At the same time, the ETA is valid for two years. If both the ETA itself and the passport under which it was obtained are valid, the person will be able to change the dates of the trip and he will not have to apply for a new entry permit. The cost of the ETA is 25 shekels (approximately 618 rubles). per person. The process of paying the ETA fee for Russian citizens under the current sanctions will be clarified later.
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Источник: argumenti.ru
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