The Russian tourist industry was not ready for the influx of travelers
There were many travelers wanting to go on vacation in February, but the popular places were almost fully booked, so hotels and airlines raised their prices. Despite this, tour operators were still unable to meet the travelers' needs.
When we tried to find a hotel in the Golden Ring cities, we found the sign "no places" almost everywhere.
This year, February 23rd had four full days, causing a 60% increase in demand compared to last year, as people who planned a March 8th vacation moved it to February,
More people who used to go abroad for vacations are now coming to Russia, especially near the capital. As a result, budget vacations in the Moscow region or the Golden Ring cities now cost 100-200 thousand rubles.
There are no seats
The tourism infrastructure in Russia has seen some improvement in recent years, with park hotels, spa complexes, and hotels of famous world brands in the suburbs. However, the domestic infrastructure is not ready for a huge influx of tourists. For example, in Yaroslavl, we only found one free hotel, which was far from the city center and cost 140 thousand rubles for four nights.
A similar situation is seen in popular hotels in the Moscow region, where the affordable options were booked in advance and only expensive premium rooms were available. For example, in a five-star hotel on the Istra reservoir, the presidential suite costs 250,000 rubles a day.
Unfortunately, it's often impossible to get good service in Russian hotels regardless of the price.
In early February, a friend convinced me to go to the four-star Solnechny park-hotel near Moscow. We paid 10,000 rubles a day for an expensive room, but it turned out to be small and uncomfortable, unlike the promotional photos.
great greed
Not only hotel owners, but also airlines, struggled to handle the many tourists despite the high prices and some empty seats in business class. For example, the Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Kaliningrad last week sold for 25 thousand rubles. The carrier now has different business tariffs – 'basic', 'optimum' and 'maximum', which used to be for economy class fares.
In February, Kaliningrad became one of the top three most popular destinations, making it impossible to find a cheap hotel there by mid-February. At the beginning of the month, a three-star hotel room started at 7,200 rubles per day, a four-star at about 15 thousand, and a five-star at about 70 thousand.
The Krasnodar Territory was the top destination with 52% of bookings. Last week, a room for two in a four-star hotel in Sochi was still available for 27 thousand rubles for three nights. A five-star room cost about 60 thousand rubles. Airfare from Moscow to Sochi had increased slightly to about 10-11 thousand rubles compared to the usual 4-5 thousand. However, there was a lack of cheap return tickets. The Sochi to Moscow flight on February 26 would cost at least 30 thousand rubles with only a few vacancies at that rate.
By the way
The current price increase is just a preview for the summer season, and there are no signs of prices going down.
“Sales of summer tours in January 2023 were 60% higher than a year ago. January was a record-breaking month in terms of summer tour sales,” said Sergey Romashkin, general director of the Dolphin tour operator. It's clear that tour operators won't need to hold sales, so the closer it gets to summer, the higher the tour prices will climb.
Meanwhile. wild and expensive
The problem of limited space and infrastructure could be addressed relatively quickly by developing campsites and reviving camp sites in the suburbs.
Modern “wild tourism” can be quite comfortable. For example, motorhomes can be compared to full hotel rooms, offering a bedroom with a king-size mattress, a full bathroom, a kitchen with a stove, and a living room with a soft suite. Car camping can meet the needs of discerning travelers and budget-friendly vacationers. There are plenty of motorhome rental options, starting from 7–9 thousand rubles per day for budget options, and going up to 40-60 thousand rubles for comfortable motorhomes with all amenities.
However, the development of camping is impossible without infrastructure. Unfortunately, in Russia, even on federal highways, a trip in a motorhome through pits and potholes can turn into a real nightmare. The correspondent of Our Version, who went on a trip along the widely advertised highway to Kazan (which, we recall, should become the main artery to Asia), already near Noginsk and Pokrov was forced to constantly pull over to the side of the road so as not to lose the wheel in road pits. Looking at such roads, any desire to rent a luxury motorhome disappears by itself.
We do not yet have a developed camping infrastructure. On the interactive map on the campsites of Russia.rf resource, we managed to find a total of about 100 campsites. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that often we can talk about a place with equipped parking near the Black Sea beach. At the same time, there may be no equipped descent to the water, no rental of sun loungers and umbrellas, or even a stable mobile connection in such a campsite.
