Russian tour operators marked sharp decline in demand for Turkey trips after Rosaviatsiya's warning

UFA, 18 April 2017. /Bashinform News Agency, Alim Faizov/. After Rosaviatsiya's warning about a possible suspension of charter flights to Turkey, the Russian tour operators marked a sharp decline in demand for trips to this country. Over the week, the number of bookings decreased by about 14 percent, purchases - by 15 percent. However, only few cancellations were registered for the May holidays. Experts explain this by lack of alternatives with the same attractive correlation of price and quality, the Izvestiya newspaper reports .

Rosaviatsia warned Russian airlines about the possible suspension of charter flights to Turkey due to the difficult political situation in the country. This was announced on April 10 in a letter to the agency signed by the deputy head of Rosaviatsia Oleg Klim.

Previously, Turkey ranked first in demand for the May tours (47 percent of the total number of user requests "Sletat.ru"). Also, the country was the most popular holiday destination for the summer of 2017 (26 percent of requests).

The number of package tours purchases to Turkey has also noticeably decreased. If at the end of March and beginning of April, their number was 33-37 percent of the total for the week, then for the period from April 10 to April 13, it decreased by 1.7 times, to 22 percent.

However, the experts of "Sletat.ru" did not register cancellations of bookings. In their opinion, reports in the media forced tourists to "slow down" with purchase of trips, but not to abandon the planned rest.

In case of charter flights and package tours ban to Turkey, tour operators will be forced to return the cost of confirmed vouchers after deducting actually incurred expenses or to offer tourists an alternative option at the same price.