"Of course, Crimea is leading, which, one might say, has significantly benefited from the decisions of the Krasnodar Territory (from August 1, new coronavirus rules for tourists came in force there − ed.). There was a redistribution of tourist flows, several hundred thousand people realized that, due to the new restrictions, they did not really want to relax in the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory, so they chose Crimea, as well as Abkhazia and Turkey. Just recently, Aksyonov announced that at the moment the indicators of 2019 were exceeded by more than 20%, which means this year's season in Crimea will be a record one. It has an undisputed breakthrough," Maya Lomidze said.
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Among other popular destinations, she said, there are St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Region, Kaliningrad, as well as Buryatia with charters to Baikal and Sakhalin, where charter flights were launched for the first time in its history.
Summing up the preliminary results of the 2021 season, the head of ATOR noted that it went well.
"Demand in most domestic destinations exceeded the indicators of 2020, which is obvious, because then the season was severely “cut” and began only in July in fact. According to preliminary estimates, demand may come closer to 2019. If in 2020 we had 30% in relation to 2019, then in 2021 in relation to 2019 it will probably be 10-15%. We could have achieved the indicators of 2019 if it were not for the decision on the Krasnodar Territory and if it were not for the periodically imposed restrictions in different regions, which affected the plans of tourists," M. Lomidze emphasized.
At the same time, during the press conference, she named the main trends and features that have finally taken root in the current season. The first is a clear reluctance and unwillingness of a tourist to book a tour for several months in advance. The period of sales was finally formed in a period of 3-4 weeks. People are afraid that the region will be closed, or they themselves will suddenly get sick, or the rules of entry will suddenly change. This trend −M. Lomidze is convinced − will continue until next year, even if the pandemic threat dissolves.
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The Head of ATOR called the second feature a clear bias towards booking an expensive or premium segment − this is the category of travelers who can more or less easily spend their money. And the third feature is the tourist's desire to reserve, as they say, everything that is returnable. When it comes to self-booking hotels or tours, people tend to buy what they can refuse the last moment without losses and with a guaranteed refund or change the date of the ticket. That is out of desire to hedge and minimize losses, M. Lomidze summed up.