Boarding flights: tourists are shifting from the Middle East to Egypt and China
About a third of tourists canceled trips to the Middle East booked for March, Izvestia found out. The rest adjust their plans: they postpone dates or choose other directions. Many organized travelers, whose stay has expired, stay in hotels, but some are unable to contact the tour operator and arrange an extension of accommodation. In the UAE, scammers have become more active against the background of the situation, offering ground evacuation to neighboring countries. Meanwhile, ATOR announced that S7 is launching outbound flights from Dubai.: The first flight to Novosibirsk is scheduled for March 3 at 18:00 local time (with a technical landing in Antalya). The airline also requested permits for flights Dubai — Moscow (March 3-5) and Dubai — Novosibirsk (March 4-5). Priority will be given to passengers with tickets for which the deadline for completion of tours is from February 28. For more information, see the Izvestia article.
Where do tourists go instead of the Middle East
Due to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, tour operators offer three options to those who have booked tours with them, said Aleksan Mkrtchyan, Vice President of the Alliance of Travel Agencies Association.
— The first option is to postpone the dates, leaving the same direction. The second is to move the destination: the dates are the same, but, for example, the Emirates are being changed to Egypt. And the third option is a one hundred percent refund," he described the situation.
Russian tourists, choosing a different destination, are changing the Middle East to Egypt, Thailand and China, the expert said. At the same time, more than 70% of travelers prefer, according to Aleksan Mkrtchyan, the first two options are postponing dates and changing destinations.
— If a person has planned a vacation, then he does not need money, but rest, — he said. — And if a person wants to go to a specific hotel, then he will go there, but not in March, but in April.
Director of the tour booking service "Fly.<url>" Irina Rozhkova reported that the company is observing a "reorientation of the tourist flow."
— Mainly to Asian countries — China, Vietnam and Thailand. Turkey and Egypt can also be mentioned," she said.
Aleksan Mkrtchyan noted that most tour operators make transfers without additional payment.
"Although everyone behaves differently, decent operators don't charge extra,— he said. — Dishonest people take it.
The expert also noted that reservations for these destinations continue, they just choose not March, but April, May and the following months.
As reminded in Level.Travel Approximately 10% of Russian tourists planned to fly to Dubai in March. At the same time, they continue to book it now.
— In the first days of March, the indicator decreased by 2%, to 8%, — the company explained. — Booking volumes for April remain stable, they are traditionally slightly lower than in March due to the increase in daytime temperatures in the UAE.
Traditionally, 8-10% of independent tourists choose the countries of the Middle East, the main part is the UAE, Alexander Bragin, director of the Association of Travel Aggregators, told Izvestia.
"If it is necessary to cancel a reservation or reschedule a reservation to another date, aggregators help with refunds, negotiate with hoteliers and other suppliers about the possibility of cancellations without penalties," he assured.
Lyubov Voronina, managing director of the Let's Fly tour operator, told Izvestia that the company is currently experiencing a peak period of tour cancellations.
— If we consider applications where the flight is scheduled for March 8 inclusive, cancellations are recorded in one hundred percent, — she specified.
The failure rate of this tour operator has reached 20%, which is directly related to the suspension of flight programs at several air carriers, including Emirates, Flydubai, Air Arabia.
Yandex Travel has already refunded the money to those tourists who were supposed to fly to the Middle East in the coming days, the company told Izvestia.
Should I cancel my trip
Russians should not rush to cancel tours to the Middle East if the flight is scheduled for dates after March 8, the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT) said.
— As we have seen from previous conflicts in the region, everything was over pretty quickly, — said Dmitry Arutyunov, co-head of the PCT Committee on outbound Tourism, CEO of Art-Tour.
Independent travelers should also not cancel their tickets yet, advised Dmitry Gorin, Vice President of the PCT.
And in Level.Travel They reminded that the cost of the trip is fully reimbursed in case of cancellation of a specific flight or an official ban on entry into the destination country by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
— You should not rush to cancel a tour on your own initiative, in this case tour operators usually withhold fines, especially since there is an opportunity to consider alternative destinations.
According to the law, fines for termination or modification of a contract for the sale of a tourist product due to a threat to the safety of tourists' lives at the place of temporary stay are unacceptable, according to an official statement from Rospotrebnadzor, which was distributed by the agency on Monday, March 2.
But not all travelers are ready to travel to the UAE in case of resumption of air transportation. So, Stanislav decided to cancel the trip, which was supposed to take place on April 11.
"We're afraid to fly, it's unclear what's going to happen," he told Izvestia. — I contacted the Coral Travel tour operator, I will be charged a fine of 20% of the tour price. I asked for a redirect, but it's a fine anyway. If the date, destination, or cancellation of the tour is changed, the penalty will be the same. We'll have to say goodbye to some of the money.
Izvestia sent a request to this tour operator.
Tourist Danila also refused to travel to Dubai, he planned to go there with his two-year-old son and pregnant wife. They planned their vacation through a tour operator.
— I haven't issued a refund yet, I'm waiting. I plan to change the direction, the operator has definitely guaranteed it," he said.
Independent traveler Elena planned to fly with her family to the UAE on March 18 to celebrate her birthday in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
— We have already canceled the hotel in Dubai — the free reservation was available until March 2. The money was returned immediately. The hotel in Abu Dhabi has been left for now, there is a free cancellation until March 21," Elena told Izvestia. — Everything is complicated with tickets. The aggregator does not accept phone calls and does not respond to messages.
She's following the news now, but she's more inclined to cancel the trip.
"I don't want to risk my life and my family's," Elena summed up.
How tourists are accommodated
Artur Muradian, Vice President of ATOR and CEO of Space Travel, said at a press conference that 95-98% of organized Russian tourists are accommodated in hotels.
— But the situation will worsen if the sky does not open soon. Every day, the rest of the following tourists ends, who must also fly out, and this cumulative effect will put an increased burden on the tourism industry. Most of the complaints come from independent travelers who are left with the problem one—on-one," he noted.
The losses of tour operators due to the forced extension of the accommodation of tourists stranded in the Middle East, according to the expert, amount to at least $ 1.5 million per day.
Hotels are asking Russian tourists for 25% more for extending their stay and blocking room cards, Ksenia, a tourist who has been unable to fly from Dubai with her child since the end of February, told Izvestia.
"They say either you pay, or the authorities, or your tour operator— we don't care," she complained.
Since February 28, Ksenia has not been able to contact the company through which she booked the trip.
Russians can receive compensation for a cancelled vacation if they have insured their trip, the insurance companies reminded. Thus, Rosgosstrakh promised that the situation in the Middle East would not be considered force majeure, so compensation would be possible.
In addition, Russians who have expired insurance for those traveling abroad will have their insurance policies extended, they assured AlfaStrakhovanie.
— Insurance coverage will be valid until the moment of return to Russia. The extension does not entail additional costs for the insured," the company explained.
Ingosstrakh has also extended the policy for stranded tourists. Medical care will be provided as usual in accordance with the terms of the contract, the insurance company "Consent" told Izvestia.
How tourists are taken out
On March 2, Abu Dhabi Airport sent planes to London, Amsterdam and Moscow for the first time since the outbreak of the conflict.
"Passengers are asked not to come to the airport unless their airline has contacted them to confirm the departure time. Flights are operated in a limited mode, the schedule can be adjusted," ATOR said in a statement.
The Anex tour operator recommends that Russians whose vacation has already ended contact representatives of the host company to provide assistance and coordination on updated flight data, the company's press service told Izvestia.
The PCT also announced that the tour operator FUN&SUN will begin organizing the export of tourists waiting to return to their homeland from the UAE on March 2. Flights were planned to Moscow, Kazan, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. But on Monday evening, a request appeared on the official PCT channel to temporarily delete this information.
The Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Dubai urged Russians to be ready to pay for their own accommodation and calculate their finances for at least a week.
The airport in Muscat, the capital of Oman, was closed on February 28, but it reopened on March 1. Russians stuck in Dubai began looking for a transfer to get to it by land, and some have already encountered fraudsters, Izvestia found out.
— Scammers themselves write to those who ask in the UAE Telegram chats about the transfer to Oman. They allegedly work for an agency that deals with excursions. They promise any cars and crossing the border without waiting in line," said one of the victims, who lost 160 thousand rubles.
The money needs to be transferred in advance, he explained. If the traveler asks to pay on the spot, the interlocutors declare that there are no available cars and that they will not go to them.
At the same time, it is also difficult to fly from Oman, despite the resumption of flights. On social media, tourists complain about the pandemonium at the airport and the increased ticket prices.
Experts from the Solar AURA Monitoring Center for External digital threats of the Solar Group of companies have also recorded cases of fraud against Russians. The attackers send phishing letters to travelers asking for a refund for a ticket for a canceled flight, create fake travel agencies that allegedly sell "emergency" air tickets, and also offer services for "evacuation" from the conflict zone or urgent transportation to other countries.
On Monday evening, ATOR announced that S7 Airlines was starting outbound flights from Dubai "due to the partial opening of the airspace": on March 3, at 18:00 local time, a flight to Novosibirsk was scheduled. "The flight will follow an agreed route with a technical landing in Antalya for refueling," the association said. The airline also requested permission to operate flights Dubai — Moscow on March 3, 4 and 5 and Dubai — Novosibirsk on March 4 and 5. Priority departure rights will be given to passengers with tickets with a tour completion date of February 28 and beyond.
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