Turkish tour operator Pegas Touristik is worried about the latest developments in the Russian tourism market and is aware of the big problems with planes from Russia. Russia. Orkhan Sankar, coordinator of Pegas Touristik for the CIS countries, told Tourism Current about this.
According to him, due to the embargo, Russian airlines use only their own and insured aircraft. “There are problems with the supply of fuel for Russian-flagged airliners,” he was quoted as saying by Turkish tourism media.
Sankar drew attention to the fact that aircraft with dual registration Bermuda – Russia cannot fly outside the Russian Federation. “Because of the sanctions, there are problems with the supply of fuel for aircraft under the Russian flag in Turkey. Aircraft make a technical landing in Sochi for refueling on the way back. This, in turn, leads to an increase in time (travel) and costs. Turkish-flagged companies may also be banned from selling fuel in Russia. Aircraft departing from the Russian Federation for technical control and registered by local airlines cannot fly to Russia either,” he explained.
The problem is not only with the impossibility of departure, but also with the maintenance of aircraft. Due to Western sanctions imposed on the Russian aviation sector, Airbus and Boeing aircraft are experiencing a lack of maintenance and spare parts.
The recent tragic events that took place in Turkey affected the flow of Russian tourists to the republic. The interlocutor stated with regret that “Turkey lost April and May to Thailand, Dubai, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela and Egypt.” According to him, now tourism is experiencing a seasonal shortage of staff in hotels due to the earthquake, and hotel prices in Turkey are high.
“This situation is reflected in the sales of tours to Thailand, Vietnam and Egypt, the flight time of which (from Russia) coincides with Turkey. Currently, 10,000 bookings are made to Turkey daily through various tour operators, but they cover the period until April 28 and May – tourists enjoy the benefits of early booking. But in general, April and May will be very weak in sales, and these will be lost months for us. Unfortunately, we lost this period due to better prices and attractive climatic conditions in Thailand, Dubai, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela and Egypt,” added a representative of Pegas Touristik.
At the same time, he noted that the tourist province of Antalya and other coastal areas maintain the goal of attracting 6 million tourists from Russia, but due to the shortage of aircraft in the transportation market, the likelihood of reaching this figure this year no longer seems realistic. It’s good if 3 million people come in this situation, the expert noted and expressed hope for an early increase in the number of airliners to transport Russian tourists.
Some confidence in Turkish tourism is given by the booking statistics of the last two weeks. Early booking sales in Russia, where the holiday season kicks off with the May holidays, have seen a marked increase in the past 2 weeks. This is how Sancar assessed this event: “About 15% of the total capacity was sold during the early booking period. Usually, 25% of tours were sold as part of this promotion.”
Who will take compatriots to Turkish resorts this summer?
Orhan Sankar noted that most Russian travelers will be delivered by Turkish carriers: “In 2023, THY and Southwind airlines will fly from Russia to Turkey. Southwind Airlines, created specifically to deliver our fellow citizens to the resorts of the republic and having 14 medium-haul and wide-body aircraft in its fleet, this year will become one of the carriers that will deliver the largest number of passengers from Russia. According to preliminary data, Southwind, in cooperation with tour operators Pegas Touristik, Coral Travel and ANEX Tour, will bring 600,000-700,000 Russian tourists to Turkish resorts.
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