11/08/2019 16:52

Operators were waiting for May

[IMG=18363-3957] Recently the cabinet of Ministers of the Russian Federation made a decision to keep the New Year’s holidays from the 31st of December till the 9th of January without changes: earlier there was a proposal to reduce winter holidays and therefore return the holiday on the 2nd of May. Meanwhile, the market was not too happy to hear the news. According to the majority of specialists, last spring when May holidays were ‘broken’ into separate dates, the sale of tours drastically dropped. ‘In May there is usually a larger amount of holiday-makers rather than on Christmas holidays. Past three years were marked by a trend to celebrate a New Year at home’, believed Anna Podgornaya, director of sales in ‘Pegas touristik’. What is more, players are convinced that the last-minute decision to keep winter holidays will hardly influence the flow of tourists or generate the increased booking for the period. ‘Anyway all tour packages for New Year to countries that require visas are bought out a long time ago. So we would rather prefer if May holidays were returned’, says Elena Silova, deputy general director of ‘Russian Express’. Besides, some specialists have another point of view: joined May holidays as well as New Year holidays do not always influence the demand. ‘Tourists who decided to go on holidays can always compromise with the management of their companies. An additional day off appointed by the government does not play a role’, says, for example, Alexey Sergecheev, vice-president of ‘IntAer’.