23 March 2022; MEMO: Holiday prices for Russian tourists looking to visit popular destinations, Turkey and Egypt, have almost doubled since invasion of Ukraine last month.
According to a report on Monday by the aviation news website, Simply Flying, citing data published by the Russian Travel Digest, the average price for an all-inclusive package holiday for two Russian travellers has increased by as much as 80 per cent.
Whereas the average package holiday price for a ten-day all-inclusive vacation to Turkey was $680 at a three-star hotel at the end of last month, the minimum average prices are now $1,170.
Egypt is another country frequented by Russian tourists and the average price for the same holiday package for two was $750 during the same period. However, now the average prices stand at $1,245.
The main reasons behind the price surge have been the depreciation in value of Russia's ruble and the fact that the two countries are among the major coastal holiday venues still open for Russians to fly to.
Earlier this month Russia's state-owned airline, Aeroflot, has also cancelled all international flights, except to Minsk, Belarus. The impact of this has left tour operators with a severe shortage of seat capacity, says the report.
Unlike member states of the EU, the governments of both Turkey and Egypt have assured Russia that they will not be imposing sanctions nor shutting their airspace to Russian aircraft.
Last year 4.7 million Russians visited Turkey and, along with Ukrainian tourists, form the main sources of income for Turkish hoteliers. Last year, Russians accounted for 19 per cent of the country's international visitors. Last month Egypt's Al-Ahram reported that about 125,000 Russian tourists visited Egypt during the first two weeks of 2022.
However, the conflict in Ukraine may force tourism industries in both countries to enter a price war to attract other visitors, with both reliant on Russian and Ukrainian tourists. "The combination of a currency crisis, rising costs and a decrease in tourists means businesses in the two countries will not be recovering from the pandemic, as was once thought," reported The Media Line earlier this month.
