Olga Granovskaya, marketing director of the Ukrainian tour operator "Artex-94":
- Tourist fashion reaches us from Europe with a delay of two to three years, and that's roughly how one can predict changes in Ukrainians' preferences. If last season Turkey and Egypt were the most popular, now our clients have reoriented toward Europe. Many Ukrainian children are currently studying in the Old World, so their parents also go there for vacations. This summer, Italy and France were in particular demand. Not the more familiar sightseeing tours, but rather relaxation.
However, sightseeing tours have not been left behind – we sent the most tourists to Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and Spain. Bus tours remain consistently popular. Our hits are ski Italy, "European Mosaic," "Journey Across Three Seas" with visits to Greece and Italy, "Northern Saga," and a number of others.
We also offer cruises around Europe – many use them as a kind of "launching pad." A panoramic bus tour of Europe – in 11 days you can visit up to eight countries. Later, it will be easier for the tourist to choose a country. There are two more interesting options: in the first, the traveler visits Vienna, Figueres, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Pisa, Florence, Siena, Rome, Venice, Pompeii, and then relaxes in Spain. The second cruise is slightly cheaper – with visits to Verona, Milan, Nice, Monaco, Paris, Baden-Baden, Bavarian castles, Munich, and ends with the same relaxation in Spain.
Don't think that we have "abandoned" Turkey and Egypt – at the client's request, we can arrange a luxurious vacation in those countries as well. Tours to New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Indonesia, China, Mauritius, Malaysia, and the Maldives are in increasing demand. We send esoteric enthusiasts to Mexico to touch the ancient cultures of the Maya and Inca.
For those who prefer beach vacations, and in complete isolation (without mobile phones, faxes, and work matters), "Artex" offers vacations on private islands in Tanzania. We also have elite wine tours to France, whiskey tours to Scotland. Such vacations are suitable for gourmets. Currently, we are developing tours of castles in France, Italy, and Spain – with accommodation in apartments where you can even see real ghosts!
Yevgeny Tatur, director of the tour operator "Tatur":
- Since we opened in the middle of the summer season of 2006, our company hasn't yet invented its own "bicycle." In the summer, "Tatur" clients most often bought vacation tours to Bulgaria and sightseeing tours to the Czech Republic. Slightly less popular were countries like Turkey, Egypt, Poland, and Hungary. However, we sent quite a few people to China and St. Petersburg.
In addition, we also engage in domestic tourism – organizing vacations in Ukraine, including accommodation in hotels in Kyiv and other cities, transport services, and conference organization. The company also offers one-day and multi-day sightseeing tours to Chernihiv, Baturyn, Sofiyivka (Uman) and "Alexandria" in Bila Tserkva, excursions to Shevchenko-related places in Kyiv and Cherkasy regions. Fascinating excursion programs in Odesa will introduce tourists to the city, as well as the history of criminal Odesa, theatrical Odesa, and the feat of intelligence officers during WWII – with a visit to the catacombs. Kamianets-Podilskyi and Lviv, tours of Transcarpathia – all are quite affordable in terms of prices, plus we have a discount system; groups of 10 people get every 11th place free. In our buses, children receive gifts, adults get prizes, and birthday celebrants receive congratulations.
For winter, we have prepared trips to ski resorts in the Czech Republic and Poland, and we offer to celebrate the New Year in the Krakow water park. By next season, I am sure we will also master Israel – sightseeing and medical tours.
Olga Vorontsova, manager of the tour operator "Laura":
- Our clients this summer were most often interested in inexpensive vacations – in Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia. We mostly offered tours to Bulgaria, as this direction is our forte. Accommodation in private cottages and apartments with or without meals – that's what interested the majority of tourists. They did not make special demands on service, but there were those who planned to spend a larger amount on vacation and traveled on an all-inclusive basis.
Bus excursions to Poland and Hungary were also successful, with quite affordable prices. And in winter, I think most tourists will prefer ski resorts in Poland, particularly Zakopane. We also recommend our clients celebrate the New Year there. This event can also be celebrated in Krakow or in Turkey and Egypt.
We don't focus on a specific circle of clients, but of course we listen to their wishes, and we prepare surprises for regular clients.
Natalya Barsukova, director of the travel agency "Continent":
- Since we specialize in tours to Italy and Spain, we have the best offers for these destinations, which also support a certain demand. In summer, these are mainly vacation tours, and in autumn and winter – sightseeing tours. We took tourists to the sea until October 7, when we closed the Indian summer with the tour «Farewell Kiss of the Spanish Summer». Now we offer a tour to Spain following the places of Salvador Dali with visits to Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid. Also «Classic Spain» (air + bus), in this tour the tourist can visit Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Granada, Seville, Cordoba, Madrid, Toledo, Zaragoza and, returning to Barcelona, fly back to Kiev. Such a rich tour takes only eight days! The same amount of time will be taken by the tour «Three Pearls», during which the tourist can visit Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo and Zaragoza. Until the end of October, the programs «Captivating Catalonia», «Heart of Andalusia», «Dreams of Kings» and «Legends of the Mediterranean» are running. And until late autumn – «Magnificent Spain».
Also, until late autumn one can sunbathe on the beaches of the Canary Islands or visit Italy on excursions. Here the choice for tourists is the widest. Until the end of September one could bask on the beaches of Sardinia and Sicily, and now the most popular tours are such as «On the Border with Switzerland», «In the Heart of the Dolomite Alps», «Two Pleasures at Once», «Cupid is No Foreigner», «When Thoughts Are Occupied with Nothing» and many others.
In addition to our top destinations, throughout the summer season and until now we have been offering tours to Egypt and Turkey. We have well-developed Austria – SPA tours, the price of which includes one cleansing body peel, one Asian wellness massage, one tai-chi facial treatment, a sound bath, as well as a rich program with active exercise in the morning and relaxation in the evening, water gymnastics and fitness in water, plus concerts and excursions, as well as use of the own thermal SPA and sauna complex, sensory relaxation rooms. This is a fashionable destination and is especially popular among the fair sex.
For winter, we have prepared tours for our clients to the same Austria, Switzerland, UAE, Morocco, as well as to various exhibitions that will be held in Italy and Spain. We also do not forget about a destination such as the Czech Republic.
Recently, interest in exotic destinations has also increased – Ukrainians' incomes have risen and they can afford to fly to distant countries, where the air ticket eats up most of the tour cost. Besides the more or less familiar Thailand, «Continent» offers to visit the Dominican Republic, celebrate New Year in Rio de Janeiro, admire the beauties of India and the Seychelles, visit Japan and Sri Lanka, the island of Bali, the Maldives and Madagascar, China and Cambodia. In addition, diving enthusiasts can go with us to Cuba.
A more economical option this summer was offered by «Continent» in the form of a vacation in Crimea – Novy Svet, Yevpatoria, Sevastopol, Alushta, as well as almost the entire Southern Coast of the peninsula. These tours were quite popular, although it cannot be ignored that tourists who have been abroad prefer to vacation there.
Another important innovation of our agency was the sale of tours on credit – clients liked this payment option. We signed a contract with one of the banks, which provides our clients with a loan on very favorable terms. However, you can get acquainted with all our offers and surprises at the «International Tourist Salon Ukraine-2006», in which we will actively participate.
Bogdan Podgorny, director of the travel company «Irina Travel»:
- Since our activity is mainly focused on tours to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, the season for «Irina» is just beginning. Although in summer 2006 we noted about a 40 percent increase in demand for tours to Thailand. This is primarily due to the rise in prices for trips to Egypt and the relatively low prices in the «off-season» for vacation in that country. Demand for Croatia has also increased, although personally I would not recommend going to that country – the level of service and hotels leaves much to be desired, and prices are at the level of good resorts in Spain. So the «price-quality» ratio is clearly not in favor of Croatia.
In winter, Thailand will remain a well-selling destination. Despite political changes in this country, the situation there remains stable, and the new government, like the previous one, is focused on developing the tourism business. So no global changes are expected. We will also actively offer our clients tours to Malaysia – this is one of the most stable countries that Ukrainians still do not visit very often. There are good prospects for this destination. We will also sell tours to the Maldives.
There are problems with Indonesia – it is a good area for recreation, but seismic activity does not stop there, so it is very dangerous to go there and in the near future we are unlikely to send our clients there. Since we focus on expensive tours, we do not deal with last-minute deals – everything is booked a couple of months in advance. Of course, we organize trips to Turkey and other countries, but due to explosions at local resorts, the number of people wishing to go there has significantly decreased.
Right now I am working on developing a destination such as Libya. This is a rich country located between Tunisia and Egypt, with a good climate and infrastructure. There are no internal conflicts or terrorist attacks – so the prospects are very great. I think in about four years this country will be as popular as the United Arab Emirates.