Prices of tours to the Greek Island of Rhodes have dropped

Next week seven-day tour packages to the island of Rhodes with departures from Moscow are sold at prices from 28 thousand Rubles (396 Euros) for two persons. It is cheaper than at the beginning of July, when prices started from 32 thousand Rubles (452 Euros). Thus, the previous forecasts of market participants on activation of demand closer to August are not yet justified. 

However, tour operators have to reduce prices actually to the cost of air transportation for insignificant part of travel packages in order to sell the remnants of seats on the boards, and there are not so many of them. “For the flight from Moscow on July 23, we have only 15 seats which are not yet sold, and for July 31 this number is 13,” said Dimitris Charitidis, the head of the Greek TEZ TOUR operator. 

Significant discounts for accommodation from hoteliers of Rhodes help tour operators to maintain profitability of sales. According to Anna Podgornaya, the director general of Pegas Touristik, on average, discounts are now 20–25% of the base prices for the summer season. As the observers explain, the discounts of the hotels are offered due to several circumstances. First of all, quite a lot of new accommodation facilities have been opened on Rhodes, including, for example, Mayia Exclusive Resort and Akti Imperial - formerly Capsis Hotel (after reconstruction). The range of rooms has grown significantly and to sell them hotels have to provide discounts. Secondly, European tourists have reduced the average duration of rest on Rhodes. According to statistics from the island’s airport, despite the fact that more travelers arrived from the UK, Denmark and some other countries this summer, their number of overnight stays in hotels has not increased.  

As for the reduction of flight programs to Rhodes, in early June the flights were canceled from Rostov-on-Don, and two weeks ago from St. Petersburg. Experts doubt that tour operators will make further optimization. After all, the “equator” of the season has been already passed, a significant part of August-September departures have been sold over the previous months. So the refusal of tour operators to continue planned programs can be connected with considerable expenses.