In January-September 2019, 58 306 Russian tourists visited the Maldives, which is 14,1% more than for the three quarters of 2018. Taking into account the high demand for the winter season, the Maldives at the end of the year can set a historical record for Russian tourist flow.

The leading winter destinations show a significant increase in sales on the stage of early booking. The growth of the demand in tours to the UAE, Thailand, Vietnam and India is very significant this year.

Russian tourists are changing their mind about summer holidays. We used to consider July and August the highest points of summer, but now the high request is stable from May to October. That was the topic of experts’ conversations during the business program of traditional Coral Travel autumn award event-Starway 2019.

Russian tourists most often buy winter tours on early booking program in Thailand, the UAE and Vietnam. Also the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Cuba are among the leading destinations for Russians in the winter season.

The volume of winter transportation to Barcelona this year increased a little compared to last year. The growth amounted to about 150 seats per week, or 15–20%. With such volumes of transportation any changes in flight programs are not expected, as the demand for the destination has grown slightly.

According to the predictions, the cost of tours to Turkey for Russian tourists in 2020 will remain at the level of 2019. There are no prerequisites for price increases.

The demand for tours to the Emirates is predicted to grow by no more than 15%, new volumes of transportation may create excess in the destination.

Tour operators note an increase in demand for the Dominican Republic. Sales of tours for winter season are much better this year. The destination is also in demand in the regions - travelers can use combined fixed-price tours with a regular Nordwind flight.

Cuba is expecting another record from Russia: the Russian tourist flow for the first 9 months of 2019 has increased by 14% there. The sales in the organized market show even greater growth.

For this winter season the whole flight program to Mexico is 30% bigger than a year ago when there were 11 flights monthly. This year we have 14 flights because of the new flight program of Coral travel’s 3 flights monthly in cooperation with Royal flight air company. Anex Tour and Pegast Touristik operators have the volumes of the previous season. Travel experts explain why the increase of flights number is not influencing the tours’ prices.

The minimum prices for holiday tours to India are comparable to the cost of air tickets to the destination. Experts see the reason of the situation in the specifics of India as a tourist destination.

According to market participants, the volume of sales of ski tours in Italy increased by an average of 15-20% in annual terms. Tour operators see the reasons for this surge in demand both in the changed consumer behavior of Russians and in the expanded assortment of tours.

The demand for India remains at the level of last year. The information about a decrease in the cost of a visa did not affect tourist demand in any way.

Vietnam is in increasing interest among Russian VIP tourists. Today, the number of premium requests for the winter in Vietnam is significantly greater than for some other popular Asian markets.

The share of Russia in the total tourist flow in the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah reached 25%. Tour operators confirm that sales volumes of tours to Ras al-Khaimah for this winter season have increased.

Tour operator Coral Travel has opened the sale of tours to Armenia. Today in the reservation system of the tour operator there are 4 excursion programs on the destination. In the future, the product range will be expanded.

Tour operators announced an increase in the number of charter flights and the expansion of the geography of cities of departure to Vietnam.

Royal Flight air company will open the new destination from the international airport of Krasnodar for winter season. The tourists are planning to visit Indian state Goa from Krasnodar this winter directly. The flights will be fulfilled once in 11 days according to schedule since 02.11.2019 till 24.03.2020 on Boeing 757-200 with capacity of 239 passengers on board.

In the upcoming winter season tour operators will increase the number of flights to Cuba.

In the winter season 2019/20, tour operators significantly expand flight programs in the UAE. Dubai remains the main destination, flights to which will be operated from 25 cities of Russia. In addition to Dubai, the tours, based on the flights to the airports of Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Ras al-Khaimah, will be offered.

Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and India are the leaders of the coming winter. For these areas winter sales grew by 1,5 times within early booking program. The early booking of tours for the winter season this year began very early and the interest of tourists in this action is very high

In addition to the flight program to Varadero, the tour operator Coral Travel launches its own flight program for the winter season at Holguin Airport from October 22.

The volume of transportation to the Dominican Republic generally remained at the level of last year. There will be an a little increase due to new regional flights. For the Dominican destination last winter season went “smoothly”, but the expectations of tour operators were overstated, which led to the need to optimize flight programs.

The distinctive feature of winter 2019-2020 flight program to Dominican Republic is the appearance of the flights not only from the Russian capital, but also from several regional airports.

The flights to Cuba are planned by 5 main Russian tour operators. They have chosen 6 different airports of Cuba as arrival points for the tourists. This wide spectrum of proposals will be an attractive moment for them. Some programs are planned for the whole year round. The table below shows the details of all the programs published by tour operators till now.