The reasons for rumors about the rising cost of holidays in Turkey were two factors. First, increased interest in this country from Europeans in connection with the widely discussed prospects of its accession to the European Union. Alas, the more citizens of the Old World head to one or another resort, the less favorable conditions are usually offered there to our tourists - price priorities are distributed in favor of the former. Second, it was expected that Turkish hotels would switch settlements with domestic tour operators from dollars to euros. The latter, however, did not happen; moreover, the vice-governor of Antalya, Necdet Ozeroglu, even assured that if prices do begin to be gradually converted to the euro currency, they would be recalculated at the appropriate exchange rate, and such a measure would not lead to higher prices. He said it seemingly convincingly, but, as they say, the aftertaste remained. And prices nevertheless went up.
As told by Igor Kiselev, head of marketing at Deep Tour, tours to the Antalya coast have risen by an average of 10-15% compared to last year. In his opinion, this is primarily due to inflation in Turkey itself, as well as the reform of the Turkish lira that took place in January this year, when six extra zeros were removed from banknotes. “Unfortunately, in Turkey not only hotels are becoming more expensive, but also, for example, gasoline - and this is a significant price-forming factor. I think this trend will continue,” Kiselev noted. According to experts, the mid-range hotel sector has risen most noticeably - “solid” four-star hotels, as well as ordinary five-star hotels on the Mediterranean coast. Moreover, if resort holidays traditionally become more expensive for the May holidays and then prices drop, this year experts predict a different scenario.
“This summer, Turkey is indeed expected to see a significant increase in the flow of Europeans compared to last year,” said Sofia Soboleva, PR director at Tez Tour. “In this regard, a shortage of hotel rooms is anticipated, and the most favorable conditions will be obtained by those tour operators who send more tourists to the Turkish shores in May. Accordingly, many will find it more profitable to hold prices at this time, but already in June they will rise.”
But while the “Turkish gambit” was generally expected, the real surprise for consumers of tourist services was the rise in prices for holidays in Egypt: tours to this country suddenly turned out to be noticeably more expensive than the Turkish direction in a short time! So here is the flip side of the oil price jump: aviation fuel is rapidly becoming more expensive, and accordingly each seat on an airplane costs tour operators more and more - by April the “markups” had grown, and, as experts say, this is not the limit. To date, the Egyptian package has already gone up by 15%, and by the May holidays a rise of as much as 30% is expected - and this despite the fact that the high season is coming to an end! So if fuel prices do not stop, after the relative “May restraint” in the Turkish direction, a similar scenario cannot be ruled out: the flight to this country is not much shorter.
However, not everything is so bad. This summer, 24 new hotels will open in Antalya alone. There are no cheap ones among them - all are “five-star”, but, as they say, to promote a new product, hoteliers will most likely use so-called promo rates. And if our tour operators do not get confused in such a situation, special offers, so loved by our compatriots, are not ruled out.