Russia has strengthened its position on the inbound tourism market in Turkey. Having become the first by the number of tourists in April, Russia confidently maintained its leadership in May. According to the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Turkey, over the first 5 months of 2019, 12.76 million foreign tourists visited the country (+ 11.3% compared with the same period of 2018).

Daily Sabah informs that during the first five months of 2019 Istanbul city has got 5.4 mln tourists. And that is the biggest number for the last five years, Russian tourists are on the 3-d place according their number. The increase of tourists’ flow is 11%.

Tour operators continue to cut flight programs to Turkey from Tatarstan. As Kazan travel agents reported, Coral Travel and Pegas Touristic tour operators have canceled one flight. In addition, Pegas Touristic also changed the boards to Antalya to smaller ones: instead of Boeing-777, the flights will be performed by Airbus A321. Thus, if in May and the beginning of June, the supplier sent 2300-2500 people a week to Antalya, now only 1,870 seats are planned to use. 

Turkey will again be the number one destination for Russian tourists this summer, the Association of Tour Operators in Russia (ATOR) has said, according to Interfax. Russian tourists have again decided in favor of Turkey for their vacations, which is seen by a 10%-15% rise in demand for Turkish tourist packages compared to the same period last year, the business association said. 

“More than 6 million Russian tourists will be hosted by Turkey in 2019, the flow of tourists will increase compared to last year,” told the Culture and Tourism Counselor of the Turkish Embassy in Russia, Jelal Kilic.

The Russians in Turkish Antalya set a new record. In May, every second foreign tourist at the main Turkish resort was Russian.  According to the department of culture and tourism of the province of Antalya, the resort hosted 3.1 million foreign tourists over the first 5 months of 2019, which is 19% more than in the same period of 2018. 

According to statistics from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the country, over the first four months of the year Turkey was visited by 710.3 thousand Russian tourists, of which 391.6 thousand came in April.

This summer, three new cities of departure for charter flights to Turkey became available to tourists of Coral Travel tour operator. Moreover, prices for tours with departures from new regions are now lower than similar tours with departures from Moscow.   As Marina Makarkova, the head of the public relations service of Coral Travel tour operator, told that for the convenience of regional tourists the company in its charter flight program added three new cities of departure to the popular Turkish resort Antalya. 

At the start of the season the Russian tourist flow to Antalya shows a 30% increase compared to last year. However, according to the results of the entire summer season, local hoteliers predict a more not significant growth for the Russian market. 

The tours from Khabarovsk to Antalya on direct charters, which were for the first time launched by ANEX Tour, are being sold unexpectedly well. Also, Coral Travel and PEGAS Touristik have a good demand for Turkey in Irkutsk in Eastern Siberia. 

Tour operators are registering this spring growth in demand for package tours to Cyprus. Uncertainty BREXIT and the bankruptcy of the Germania low-cost airline led in the early spring of 2019 to a reduction in the number of tourists coming to Cyprus from its main entry markets - the UK (-6.9%) and Germany (-37%).  

Turkish Antalya, for the first time in April, has hosted almost a million foreign tourists. “We didn’t expect it ourselves”: this is how the Turkish media describe the reaction of the Antalya authorities commenting the results of April on the inbound tourism market. The resort was visited by 977,500 foreign guests (+ 38% compared with April 2018).

Tour operator New Travelers, specializing in dynamic packages based on regular transportation and sending tourists to 24 countries in Europe, Middle East and Asia, launched sales of dynamic package tours to Turkey and Europe with flights on the basis of regular flights of Pobeda Airlines.  As the company told, dynamic packages are available online for purchase on the website of the tour operator, as well as at travel agencies of Moscow and regions.

Turkey remains the most popular destination of outbound tourism in the 2019 season with a large margin from other countries. The participants of the market are relatively satisfied with the results of the early booking: more than 50% of the volume was sold. According to TUI Russia, as of the beginning of April, 30% of the planned volume to Turkey was sold. 

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) named Russian tour operators leading in terms of the number of tourists sent to Turkey. In total, these companies served 4.7 million Russian citizens in the country in 2018. “The leader among tour operators in terms of the number of tourists sent to Turkey in 2018 was Coral Travel (with Sunmar sub-brand).

Despite the fact that Turkey is the undisputed favorite of summer among outbound destinations, the rise in price of package tours to Turkish resorts makes the Russians partially change their preferences for holidays in this country. Demand has shifted to the edges of the season, the average duration of travel is reduced, cheap Alanya has grown. 

According to the results of the early booking campaign, Cyprus entered the TOP-5 destinations of the summer of 2019 with the fifth position from TEZ Tour operator. The company management believes that demand has grown largely due to the expansion of the concept of food in many hotels in Cyprus to All Inclusive.

As part of the spring-summer navigation, AZUR air is expanding its flight program to Turkey. It has departures from Moscow, St. Petersburg and another 37 Russian cities along four routs – to Antalya, Alanya (Gazipasa), Dalaman and Bodrum. 

Pobeda has opened a ticket sale for the new flights to Turkey from cities where charter programs are widely represented. The flights from Perm to Antalya are scheduled twice a week from the end of May; airplanes from Kazan will start flying from June with the same frequency. It is reported by the press service of the carrier on April 11. 

Despite the rise in prices of 30% and more, Turkey remains the leader in sales for the “earlier booking” for the upcoming summer. This was reported by representatives of the largest agency networks. 

Russian tourist flow to Turkey in January-February 2019 grew by 34% in annual terms, while almost 40% of Russian tourists visited Antalya, and about 60% of the flow came from Istanbul.

In the summer season of 2019, the tour operator ANEX Tour expands its regional charter program to Turkey. For some of new cities of departure the direct charter flights to Turkey are arraigned for the first time.