Average check for vacation during May holidays for Tatarstan citizens grown by a third

Air travel has risen in price most of all

Rising prices for vouchers have become one of the constraining factors for Tatarstan tourists when choosing destinations for trips during the May holidays. The lion's share of the costs is the cost of plane tickets.

Ramil Miftakhov, the head of the Association of Travel Agencies of Tatarstan, also confirmed a significant increase in air transportation prices to Realnoe Vremya. According to him, flights to the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have become especially expensive. In the last year alone, tickets to the latter country have grown from 30% to 50%.

Those who choose domestic tourism will also face serious costs. For the May holidays, the prices for flights across Russia have also increased significantly, tour operators have already warned about this. Moreover, flights to the destinations of Kazan, Moscow, Sochi, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and Mineralnye Vody have risen the most. Passengers can overpay if they book tickets for the dates from May 5 to May 10.

Not only the cost of travel has risen, but also rental housing — by an average of 60%. According to experts, Russians' spending on this article during the May holidays has increased by more than half over the year, and the average check is estimated at 15 thousand rubles.

Fewer vacation options

The experts interviewed by Realnoe Vremya agree in one opinion — the demand for external tourism among Tatarstan residents has sharply decreased. In addition to high prices, another factor played a role — a limited number of destinations for recreation.

Ramil Miftakhov also spoke about the choice of these destinations for the May holidays. Although, according to him, it is not yet possible to “swim soulfully” in Turkey, so residents of the republic go here less often, Egypt and the UAE are in first and second place in popularity. Nevertheless, these countries will be visited by half as many Russian tourists as last spring. This year, most people have chosen to spend the holidays in their dachas.

“If we compare with the previous year, people travel less, much less, about twice. People will mostly rest at home in the country. They are preparing for the planting season, the barbecue season. They will shovel, clean up, everything is as usual," Miftakhov noted.

A small part of Tatarstan residents, according to Sergey Pasechnik, still chose to rest in Europe, despite the tense geopolitical situation. France and Greece are among the popular destinations. However, this year the Schengen visas of many people coming to the end.

“The situation has changed in a year, visas have finished. At first, the pandemic interfered, planes did not fly, then other problems. Certainly, there were direct flights of Aeroflot to the Seychelles and Maldives. Therefore, people are looking at logistics," said Sergey Pasechnik.

The expert noted that all routes are adjusted by the season and advised Tatarstan citizens to “combine” flights and think over logistics.

Tatarstan residents have begun to travel more often in Russia

Since last year, for objective reasons, Tatarstan citizens, like all Russians, have begun to travel around Russia more often. On May holidays, people are more willing to go south. People who are used to airplanes are not stopped by the need to go somewhere by train. At the same time, flights to the airports of Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, Elista are still temporarily restricted. Therefore, people choose alternative options.

“They will go to Crimea, Sochi, Gelendzhik, Anapa. If you look at the cost of trips for the May holidays, then there are no train tickets in this direction starting from April 29," Miftakhov stressed.

At the same time, not everyone will go to the sea, many prefer sightseeing tours and choose Moscow, St. Petersburg and even Kaliningrad for recreation. Many also go to cities located within a radius of 500 km from Kazan. For example, Samara or Nizhny Novgorod.

Tatarstan residents are also attracted to the Caucasus regions, some choose Dagestan, Mineral Waters and other resorts where there are useful springs for recreation. The demand for trips to Baikal, Sakhalin and Altai has increased.

And yet the majority of vacationers choose to rest at sea, Yulia Talanova noted. In her opinion, in conditions of flight restrictions, many people travel to the Russian south by car.

“Basically everyone wants to go to the sea, where it's warm. The key factor why Krasnodar Krai, Abkhazia, Crimea are in demand is because people still want to visit the sea," she explained.

Kazan has entered the top 10 popular destinations

The popularity of the capital of Tatarstan among Russian tourists is also growing. According to tour operators, the demand for trips to Kazan from nonresident guests has increased by 30-40% over the year.

“Tourism can increase if we increase the number of beds. But large hotels are no longer opened. So, if only hostels. But I want to say that now a lot of tourists are coming to Kazan," said Talanova.

The influx of tourists is evidenced by the load indicators of Kazan hotels. Booking rooms in the coming holidays is not an easy task, the interlocutors of the publication noted.

“In Kazan, for the May holidays, the occupancy of hotels is very high. There are also two dates: the first — May 2-3, and the second — May 9-10. On the first date, places are tight, you can still search and find in the middle, but during this period of time it is very difficult to find places," commented the head of the Association of Travel Agencies of Tatarstan.

Besides, experts noted that holidays in Kazan for tourists have also risen in price, by an average of 20%. This mainly concerns the cost of accommodation and group lunches.