Travel experts warned about the rise in prices for New Year’s travel in December

The Russian tourist market is preparing for the New Year holidays. Despite the start of bookings, current demand is inferior to the previous year.

Travelers prefer to postpone the purchase of tours and tickets until the last weeks. This was told to the Public News Service by the executive director of the Association “Alliance of Travel Agencies” Natalia Osipova. According to her, it is not worth delaying with planning a holiday, since in December the cost of offers will increase by about 15 percent, and the most interesting options can be sold out.

Basic prices in the industry are already ahead of last year’s values by 4 percent. The Ministry of Economic Development forecasts 32 million domestic trips this winter. Among the popular domestic destinations, the expert singled out excursion programs to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Veliky Ustyug and Kostroma, as well as ski resorts of Altai, Sheregesh, Dombay and Arkhyz, the demand for which grew by 10 percent. In the foreign market, countries with direct flights and visa-free regime are leading, such as the UAE, Turkey, Thailand and China. The situation with flights remains stable, and the peak of bookings traditionally will be in the pre-holiday weeks.