Support The Moscow Times!

Russia's Last-Minute Travel Industry Implodes Amid Economic Woes

Pixabay

Russian travel agents are axing last-minute holiday deals amid the country's ongoing financial crisis.

Last-minute breaks were once a mainstay of the Russian travel industry, accounting for between 15 and 20 percent of the market in 2014. Now, its market share has dropped to around 4 percent, the Kommersant newspaper reported Thursday.

Instead of lowering prices for holiday makers who are willing to book just days before they fly, companies are hiking prices by up to 40 percent.

Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Russian Tour Operators, told Kommersant that ongoing turmoil in once popular tourist destinations such as Egypt had impacted profit margins.

While travel agents received a commission of up to 30 percent for every last-minute deal they sold to Egypt in 2014, that share has since fallen to no more than 13 percent.

Russia's unstable economy also made travel operators more risk-adverse, Kommersant reported.

Many Russian travel agents said that they were now unwilling to make large block-bookings of hotel rooms and travel tickets if they were not sure that they could be sold.

Russia's budget travel sector has suffered repeated blows over the past two years. Air travel between Russia and Egypt was suspended in November 2015 after an Airbus A321 was downed by a terrorist attack over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula while en route to St. Petersburg.

The popular tourist haven of Turkey also suffered amid political upheaval between Moscow and Ankara. Russian authorities banned the sale of package tours to Turkey in November 2015 after a Russian warplane was shot down by the Turkish military. The sanctions were eventually lifted in July 2016, when Turkish President Recep Erdogan apologized for the incident and offered to pay compensation.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more