Despite rising prices tour operators sent more tourists to Italy

Tourists are not ready to refuse from tours to Italy, despite rising cost compared with last year. In summer, tour operators reported about increasing in demand for Italy up to 30–40%. But by the end of the summer season, the activity of tourists decreased. The reasons were a jump of ruble exchange rate against euro and dollar, the World Cup in Russia and a significant increase in the volume on Turkish destination. Due to these factors, tour operators had to adjust the previously announced volumes of transportation to Italy. The adjustment was made, in particular, by PAC Group and TUI Russia tour operators, who reduced the program by about 10%. However, the experts note that Italy in the summer season was less suffered by fluctuations in demand and reduction in air transportation. According to tour operators, by the end of the summer, the demand for Italy in organized segment increased by 30%. This is also correlated with the data of “Sletat.ru” package booking system: the number of search requests for tours to Italy increased in the summer by 23% compared to the same period of the last year. The autumn demand for Italy is showing slower growth. Thus, PAC Group estimates the growth in demand at the level of 10%. The most popular destination for Russian tourists in Italy is Emilia-Romagna with the resort of Rimini. This region hosted about a quarter of the Russian summer tourist flow to Italy. On the second position is the island of Sicily. Venice Riviera closes the TOP-3 with share of about 10%. Next in the ranking of the most popular summer Italian destinations are Sardinia, Tuscany, Liguria, Campania, Lazio, Riccione, Cattolica and Marittima and Ischia. According to "Sletat.ru", in the autumn of this year on the first line (by the number of requests) is Sicily (share 20%). Further, with equal shares, follow Lazio and Emilia-Romagna (13% each). Sardinia (8.7%) and Venice Riviera (6.7%) close the TOP-5. Tuscany, Lombardy, Campagna, Ischia and Liguria are also in demand in the autumn 2018.