Caribbean began to be more popular than Southeast Asia

Representatives of the tourist retail industry have noted the increased attractiveness of holidays in the Caribbean among Russian tourists. Due to the growth in charter transportation volumes and good prices, Cuba has a chance to increase its volumes this winter, and a number of retail’s networks note a high demand for Caribbean countries, which is close to the demand for Southeast Asian resorts. According to Maria Leshcheva, the director of marketing of the TA “1001 Tours”, the popularity of the Caribbean destinations for winter vacations this year has grown due to the price factor. “This year, Caribbean resorts look more attractive for many tourists in comparison with the increased by 10-15% prices for the Southeast Asia destinations. According to the September sales results, both the Dominican Republic and Cuba are ahead of Vietnam in terms of the number of bookings,” says Ms Leshcheva. 

Based on the data of early booking of tours to the Caribbean resorts for the winter season, we can say that Cuba is gradually approaching to the leader – the Dominican Republic. It is possible that the first place in the winter will be shared by two players. “The Dominican Republic is showing good results, the sales are at a high level. The resort can share leadership with Cuba in the winter season,” Alexan Mkrtchyan, the CEO of TA network “Pink Elephant” confirms. 

Meanwhile, against more expensive the Dominican Republic, the prices for Cuba are quite low. According to "1001 tour" network, the cost of tour packages to Cuba on "all inclusive" starts now from 50 000 Rubles (701 Euros) per person. At the same time, travel agents note that for some Dominican hotels one can find the similar prices. So, tourists are actively interesting in both Cuba and the Dominican Republic. 

As for another Caribbean destination - Mexico, the resort, despite significant growth over the past two years, can still not be called as massive.  Finally, Maria Leshcheva draws attention to such a rather exotic destination for the Russian market as Jamaica. According to her, this year the company notes an increase of tourist interest for this area.