Travel prices unlikely to rise in 2020, says Russian industry union

There will be no price hike for package tours and routes in 2020, vice president of the Russian Travel Industry Union, Yuri Barzykin said in an interview.

“Will the package tours and routes become more expensive this year? No, they will not be more costly,” he said.

The domestic tourist traffic will recover by August in absence of the second wave of the coronavirus spread, Barzykin said.

“However, according to estimates of specialists, the traffic will decline in the domestic market by 30-50%, although the outbound tourism will not operate,” he added.

“I believe Europe will start opening for us by the end of the year, around the Alpine skiing season. Losses will also be huge but the outbound market will start recovering by the year-end,” Barzykin said.

He believed Turkey and the Mediterranean region will be the first to open up.

“The recovery [of the tourist market] will take from 12 to 18 months in general terms,” he added.