What will happen to tours? Relax well and cheap: how to catch a last minute tour

In 2018, Russian residents may lose the opportunity to go abroad on hot charter flights, which are relatively low cost. The main questions that concern travelers and tourists are as follows: why the country is threatened with the cancellation of such tours, and how travel companies plan to replace tour packages that are the most profitable options for a significant part of the population?

A last-minute ticket is called so because it represents a certain, namely, unrealized in a timely manner, the state of the offer of a travel company. In other words, this is a ticket with a set of additional services, which, due to certain circumstances, was not sold for a fixed period of time. As the date of departure of the aircraft approaches, the cost of such a voucher becomes lower and lower, because the number of people “sitting on their suitcases” and ready to quickly leave for the airport is decreasing every minute. And yet, before the onset of 2017-2018, the situation in this segment was quite stable: such travelers accounted for about 15% of all consumers of the tourism market. Now the situation has changed significantly for the worse, and there are practically no people who gather several days in advance and arrive at the landing point by plane.

This is interesting! This category of tours received the name "burning" in the days of the USSR. At that time, holidays were distributed according to the instructions of trade union leaders, but it often turned out that the allocated tickets and all vacation benefits assigned to them were returned to professional associations (for example, due to poor health of workers, etc.). Then the phrase “voucher is on fire” was introduced into circulation, which then acquired the character of an official expression.

Last-minute trips differ from planned trips in that it is impossible to purchase tickets for them in advance: offers for travelers become available approximately 7 days before departure, for countries with a visa system of entry - 10 days in advance. Usually, the package package, which turns out to be 25-30% or even 50% cheaper than the original cost, includes the following components:

• flight in one direction and the other;
• medical insurance;
• accommodation;
• nutrition;
• partial or full movement around the place of stay.

Why hot tours will disappear

The cancellation of hot tours by tour operators from the summer of 2018 is predicted not by individual firms and companies, but by the entire Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR for short). Experts call the protracted crisis and all the consequences arising from it, including those severely hitting the industry, the key reason for this phenomenon:

• decrease in the solvency of the population;
• an increase in the cost of charter transportation due to an increase in oil prices (from June to November they increased by ¼);
• a general shortage of aircraft;
• reduced competition.

For example, in the fall of 2017, the VIM-Avia organization, whose fleet consisted of 20 airbuses, was closed due to bankruptcy. Given the fact that the real commission that intermediary firms receive when transporting people from country to country has decreased from 30% to the maximum possible 13% today, it turns out that it is simply unprofitable and risky for travel agents to cut the cost of vouchers, even if they are not sold.

Specialists and manufacturers of vacation packages from BSI Group, OnlineTour, Pegas Touristik and other companies are sure that now the phrase "last minute" will be a purely marketing technique, and not a real opportunity to save one's own money. Due to the lack of extra seats, customers who are accustomed to traveling on last-minute tours, on the contrary, risk not saving, but losing money, because from now on, sets with an approaching departure will be 40% more expensive.

Another reason for the abolition of such vouchers is the disappearance from the market of offers of those options that were previously considered the most popular among the mass consumer - we are talking, in particular, about Egypt.

Optimal solutions for flights

Operators unanimously say that from the beginning of 2018, the best solution to help tourists resolve economic issues will be to think ahead of vacation and book charter flights. Despite the fact that prices for early booking tours for the summer season may also increase within 5-10% of the prices set today, this cannot be compared with the rise in prices of last-minute tours. To follow this path, all conditions were created by transportation agents: for example, for the coming June-August, they opened the possibility of booking tickets and hotels as early as never before.

How to relax on a budget video tips

Attitudes towards burning tours are different. Someone only flies like that, and someone bypasses, overshadowing with an Orthodox cross. We tried to tell why tour operators carry out such generosity attractions, and what the desire to save money on vacation can result in.

Where do hot tours come from?

What do sellers do when the "doctoral" expiration date comes to an end? That's right - they write "promotion" and reduce prices. It's the same with hot tickets. The tour operator buys seats on planes and hotels in advance, and when there are free rooms at the beginning of the tour, it sells them cheaper. The company gets rid of unclaimed vouchers at cost and does not incur losses.

Hot tours are a fair deal. The price drops approximately 10 days before departure. If suitcases are always ready, and you agree to break away on vacation at any time, this option is for you. A good way to save a few thousand rubles and visit the country of your dreams.

But there are nuances.

What is the catch of burning tours?

As with many good proposals, there are "buts" here. You may not know the truth about why the tour costs so little. Cases that the tour operator is happy to report:

• tourists refused at the last moment;
• sale of seats before the start of the season;
• the tour operator miscalculated the demand by buying extra seats.

But when the offer is really good, there will always be buyers for it. Sometimes places sharply become cheaper for other reasons.

What to look out for

Season. The main reason for low ticket prices is the lack of demand. This happens when the resort has bad weather, the rainy season, hurricanes and earthquakes. Before paying, try to find out more about the country you are flying to. Read the news, weather reports, and just in case, check if there are military actions nearby - this can also happen.

Departure city. Most of the last minute tours are tours from Moscow. Before you buy, calculate how much it will cost you to get to the capital and back. Add to this the risks that a long journey brings: you can miss your plane, you need to book a hotel in Moscow, there is little time to pack. Even if you save money, you can spend a lot more nerves.

Amount of days. Sometimes last minute deals are unclaimed tours. These are short trips for 3 days / 4 nights or 7 days, of which one will go for a flight, and two more for acclimatization. You can't call it a perfect vacation. In addition, a short tour will not cost much less than a week or 10-day package - and good deals in season with such terms are hard to find. It happens that a short vacation for 3-4 days is reduced due to unforeseen circumstances - when you buy last-minute tours, everything can be.

The reputation of the travel agency and tour operator. Avoid fortune systems and lotteries with similar names. Especially during the season and without a specific hotel. Often a good hotel with a high rating is announced on the tour, but with the possibility of replacing it with another, of the same star rating. Make sure there is no such clause in your contract. Otherwise, upon arrival, you may be placed in a hotel with poor food, dirty linen and insects in the rooms. An irresponsible travel agent may fail to warn the traveler of these risks, so the holiday could be ruined.

Lack of choice. A hot ticket can be a real adventure. If you buy a tour "for luck", then it's time to get acquainted with the features of the hotel, its suitability for family vacation simply no. The decision to buy must be made quickly, otherwise someone else will outbid a chic offer.

Where is it better to fly on a burning tour

Despite some risk, last minute deals remain the most popular way to travel cheaply. In fairness, there are far fewer bad reviews about tours than enthusiastic recommendations from tourists.

When looking for tours, it is better to bet on visa-free countries or those where a visa is issued upon arrival - Turkey, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam, UAE. Holidays in Europe on a last-minute tour are suitable for those who have a long-term visa in their passport. The rest may simply not have time to do the paperwork and are at great risk of rest.

Choose safe countries for your vacation where there is no risk of getting sick. For example, if you are planning to go to India for the first time, experienced travelers recommend up to 10 vaccinations: against typhoid, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis A and B, meningitis. This applies to adults and children. In the case of a burning ticket, you may not have time to get vaccinated. Of course, the risk of getting infected is not too high, but "Shiva saves the safe."

The farther and more exotic the country, the more difficult and longer the preparations for the flight. When traveling for African exotics, you need to study local eating habits, learn about the poisonous inhabitants of the seas, rivers, oceans, and buy essential medicines in advance. Medical insurance does not protect in all cases, and it will be fabulously expensive for a foreigner to be treated on the other side of the planet.

Important advice: If you found good offer which suits you, do not hesitate. In a couple of hours someone else will definitely buy a profitable ticket.

Alternative - early booking

Like it or not, last-minute trips are to some extent a roulette for the lucky ones. Tours at reduced prices go to those who are ready to break away abroad at any time, are not tied to the deadlines for submitting reports and do not wait for permission from their superiors to take a vacation. When you are used to planning everything, then for sure such a vacation will disappoint. If not a hotel and a flight, then the inability to plan everything.

If you are not one of those who are going on a week-long trip abroad in five minutes, it is better to book tours in advance. By doing this, you save up to 30% of the cost of the tour, which is comparable to discounts on last-minute tours. Do not wait until the last minute - no one guarantees that last-minute tours will appear. Tourists will redeem all their reservations, there will be no force majeure in the country, no one will refuse a trip at the last moment - and that's it, there are no normal last-minute trips.

The first screen is the prices for tours to India for the next week. The second screen is the same "early booking" tour 40 days before departure. All dates are high season, the price difference is about 24,000 for two.

Choose a tour 3-4 months before holidays, make an advance payment of 50%, and the rest - a couple of weeks before departure. So you are guaranteed to get a comfortable stay in the chosen hotel, at the right time and with a convenient departure.

In Soviet times, good workers received vouchers to sanatoriums from trade unions. And when a hard worker for some reason refused a ticket, and even at the last moment, they said that it was “burning”. The expression "burning ticket" has taken root and migrated to the modern tourism industry.

Now burning tickets are called, which are sold a few days before departure and at very low prices. Especially a lot of such offers during the low season. For beach tours - this is early spring and late autumn, and for ski tours - summer.

Due to the reduction in the volume of charter flights, there are not so many last-minute tours now. Tour operators try to make commitments in line with projected demand. The hottest offers are at the beginning of the season, when demand is lower and charter flights have already begun.

Veniamin Bondarev

Where do hot tickets come from?

Tour operators before the start of the tourist season redeem or book tickets and hotel rooms in advance. Formed tours are implemented by travel agencies. But it is impossible to predict exactly how many tickets will be sold.

When they talk about a last-minute ticket, they usually mean the ticket that has a very close departure date. In this regard, it needs to be sold urgently. The price goes down because you have to fill the remaining space on the plane and the hotel and at least earn something.

In order not to lose the money spent on the reservation, tour operators and travel agencies have to sell tours almost at cost. Yes, they will not receive the planned dividends, but they will not remain in the red.

For a tourist, this option is beneficial if he is willing to take risks and wait until the last minute for the sake of a low price, or, for example, if free time for a trip appeared suddenly.

Ilya Otkalo

According to Ilya Otkalo, the law does not contain the concept of a “last minute tour”, so by and large, a “last minute tour” is just a marketing ploy so that a tourist can highlight offers that are lower than the market price. At the same time, by selling cheap tours, travel agencies get grateful loyal customers.

Another reason why a ticket becomes a burning one is the rejection of already purchased tours. For example, a person planned a vacation, booked a ticket in advance, but just a week before departure he fell ill and canceled the trip. So that the place on the plane and the hotel room are not empty, travel agencies reduce the cost of the ticket and try to quickly resell it.

Finally, sometimes last-minute tours appear on the market due to force majeure events in the host country. If the political situation escalates in the state or a natural disaster occurs, the demand for tours to this country drops sharply. Tourists can only be lured by a significant reduction in prices so that the desire to save money prevails over security considerations.

Features of burning tickets

• A ticket to visa-free countries usually becomes last-minute 2-5 days before departure, and to countries for which a visa is required - 7-10 days. This means that time is running out for everything. In just a couple of days, you need to have time to pay for the tour, complete all the necessary documents and pack your things.
• You need to be prepared for the "low season" service. On the one hand, there will be few tourists around, which is a plus for many. But on the other hand, there is also less entertainment and attention from the staff. Do not be surprised if many shops and restaurants are closed and the hotel guide offers only a couple of excursions.
• Travel agencies do not book last-minute trips without the full payment of the client. If, when buying a regular tour, you first pay a part of the amount, and give the rest of the money later, receiving tickets and a voucher, then in the case of a last-minute tour, you will have to pay it immediately and in full. This money is non-refundable.

Thus, a last-minute trip is an excellent solution for a person who is easy-going, but limited in funds. Such a tour is suitable for you if you are unprincipled (if only there was a sea, mountains ...), and you can adjust your vacation to the trip (and not vice versa).

But you should not agree to the first “hot” offer that comes across. Not every voucher, called burning, is such.

How to find a real last minute ticket

When the soul and heart require rest, it is difficult to remain cool at the sight of proposals that begin with the words "Super promotion!" or "The lowest prices of the season."

But the seductive price tag does not guarantee that you really have a burning ticket in front of you. Perhaps the price did not fall, but simply became normal. Travel agencies sometimes deliberately inflate the cost of tours in order to later attract customers with discounts. In order not to fall victim to the "attraction of unprecedented generosity", study the prices on the market and find out how much the package of services offered to you in other companies costs without any discounts.

Many travel agencies, in order to stimulate sales, may pass off ordinary tours as last-minute ones. They just take the tours with the lowest price and present them as burning ones.

Ilya Otkalo

Also, the most ordinary tours with very, very cheap hotels are sometimes disguised as last-minute trips. For example, it can only be a hotel that has just opened and has not yet earned a reputation, or a hotel located far from the sea.

Be sure to check out TopHotels.ru or TripAdvisor.ru and find out what kind of hotel you are offered.

You may not be satisfied with the level of comfort, even if the ticket is generally free.

You can also recognize pseudo-burning tours by other indirect signs.

• Prices for accommodation in expensive hotels belonging to some large chain are usually stable and do not decrease depending on the tourist season. If you are offered an inexpensive ticket with accommodation in such a hotel, there is a high probability that the travel agency has cut the package of services somewhere and disguises the tour as a burning one.
• During national holidays, during holidays and vacations, there are very few last-minute offers. If you manage to catch a ticket that was turned down, you're in luck. If the travel agency offers a wide range of last-minute tours during the peak season, be careful.
• It is almost impossible to visit some large-scale foreign event, for example, a cool music festival or a sports tournament, with a last-minute ticket. Flights and hotels for these dates are booked many months in advance. And you should be very careful if the travel agency suddenly makes a "delicious" offer.

You are really offered a burning tour if:
- less than two weeks left before departure (the closer the departure, the lower the price);
- this is a charter flight;
- accommodation is offered not in a city hotel, but in a popular beach hotel where tour operators book blocks of seats.

Veniamin Bondarev

What you need to pay attention to when buying a burning ticket

Package of services

In this, a burning ticket should not differ in any way from a booked one in advance. Flight, transfer, meals, accommodation, insurance, excursions - everything is like in a regular tour to this country in given time. If you are offered a reduced package of services, then most likely they are trying to disguise the ticket as a burning one.

It must be understood that a burning offer may be burning because no one bought it in advance. The hotel may be useless, the flight inconvenient, the food unsatisfactory. Therefore, carefully study the contract and the composition of the proposal and, of course, look at the reviews of the proposed hotel.

Ilya Otkalo

Be sure to ask about the reason for the reduced cost of the tour. And in general, do not hesitate to ask the travel agent questions - time is short, and it is better to immediately clarify all incomprehensible points.

Advice: read the contract carefully. Pay attention to the legal details of the tour operator and travel agency, information about the license to carry out tourism activities, dates of flights, check-in and check-out. Examine the conditions for changing and terminating the agreement, as well as the procedure for filing claims.

Reputation of the travel agency

Almost all travel companies offer last minute tours. After all, they all conclude agreements with major tour operators and use their databases. But not all travel agencies conscientiously fulfill their duties, and some sometimes frankly cheat.

In order to find out if the price is really reduced, you can compare tours for the next dates using online tour search engines.

Veniamin Bondarev

To buy a cheap last minute tour, not just cheap tour with disgusting conditions, contact trusted companies that have been operating on the market for a long time. It is best to choose an agency whose services you yourself or your friends have already used. It is also worth looking for reviews on travel forums.

Advice: if in doubt, check the tour operator according to the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators, and the travel agency according to the register of travel agencies.

Visa

Last minute tours are usually tours to popular tourist destinations. This is because the status of a burning ticket gets 7-10 days before departure. It is difficult to get a visa during this time.

Yes, travel agencies work with consulates is usually already debugged. But difficulties with documents can always arise: the wrong certificate, the questionnaire is incorrectly filled out, and so on. And then the client will be denied a visa, he will not fly anywhere and his money will simply burn out.

Advice: to fly to Europe on a last-minute ticket, apply for a Schengen visa in advance on your own.

Due to the crisis and changes in the structure of the market, Russian tour operators have completely abandoned the sale of last-minute tours. This opinion was voiced by a number of media, referring to the data of representatives of the tourism sector. However, the experts interviewed by the correspondent of the TURPROM infogroup do not agree with this - last minute tours, and in Western terminology - "last minute bookig" tours, have not disappeared, although their share has indeed decreased somewhat. However, already this spring, experts are sure, the market may be covered by a new wave of burning tours due to dumping wars, which some tour operators are likely to unleash in Turkish and Egyptian directions.

So, according to Kommenrsant, due to the fact that tour operators are increasingly forming package tours not on the basis of their own charters, but on the basis of regular transportation, thereby optimizing their flight programs, the need to sell vouchers at burning prices has actually disappeared - the risks of unsold tours are transferred to the shoulders of airlines. Thus, Igor Blinov, a representative of the OnlineTour travel agency, notes that if before 2014 last-minute tours accounted for about 15% of sales, now they are practically non-existent. “Relevant requests from customers remained, but it’s almost impossible to pick up something on them: the cost of a tour bought a few days before departure is now 30-40% higher than in pre-sale, and not vice versa,” the newspaper quotes him. .

However, according to other experts, burning proposals have not disappeared anywhere. “Now is the off-season, therefore, there are certainly very few such offers. But in general, they definitely did not decrease in the market. And when Turkey starts in early April, and charters fly there en masse, there will be no less burning tours than in previous years. After all, everyone understands perfectly well that the first thing tour operators will do to win the largest market share is to lay out tariffs for $299 or $399, and everything will return to normal,” says Sergey Samokhvalov, Director for Development of the Global Travel Travel Agency Network.

At the same time, the expert noted that last year there were indeed a little less such offers than usual, since two mass directions were absent on the market at once. In the same year, according to Sergey Samokhvalov, those who want to relax in Greece, Tunisia, and even on the Black Sea coast of Russia will definitely not be left without burning offers - the prices for Turkey will pull down the prices for all other mass destinations.

Sergey Tolchin, sales director of the tour operator "" does not agree with the fact that last-minute tours are a thing of the past. According to him, the appearance of last-minute tours in the lines of companies is primarily due to the balance of supply and demand at the current moment. For example, if there is no excess transportation, and the balance of supply and demand is optimal, then there can be no last-minute tours in principle. When there is an overabundance of transportation on the market, inexpensive or very cheap vacation options appear, which primarily attract tourists who previously did not plan to go on vacation due to lack of funds. “People see that a week-long all-inclusive trip abroad is being sold for the price of two nights in a recreation center near Moscow without meals. As a result, it turns out that this is not an organically formed demand, but a situation artificially created by the market. That is, it is impossible to say that last-minute tours disappear in principle. This is a seasonal phenomenon, which may be related to the current economic and political situation, correct planning, weather events, and so on,” the expert explained.

The Deputy President "" also notes that last-minute offers appear after the fact, so it is incorrect to say that they will not be in the upcoming season: "It is possible that an overabundance of transportation may form on such routes as Greece or Turkey. That is, until the season has begun, it cannot be said that there will be no last-minute offers. According to the expert, if the companies fail to fill their charters, burning will definitely not be avoided.

However, according to Sergey Golov, President of the Union of Travel Agencies (STA), against the backdrop of the crisis, tour operators have begun to approach planning their flight programs in more detail, as a result of which the number of last-minute tours may indeed be reduced. “Tour operators have reduced the flight program according to their financial capabilities and limitations. After all, what is last-minute tours - this is an overabundance of transportation on the market, which you need to pay from your own pocket. Often, only the cost of the flight was included in the cost of such a tour, and the tour operator actually subsidizes the tourist from his own pocket for accommodation, meals and transfers. However, during the crisis, the profitability of work became a critical condition for survival, as a result, tour operators began to form their programs more competently, and the number of last-minute tours on the market decreased,” he said.

Russian tour operators have suspended sales of tours to Thailand after the Federal Agency for Tourism (Rostourism) considered this country dangerous for tourists. The official notice of Rostourism emphasizes the undesirability of tourist trips to Thailand in connection with a possible threat to the life and safety of Russian citizens, Newsru.com reports. According to the instructions of the Federal Tourism Agency, tour operators are recommended "to warn all tourists who intend to travel to Thailand about the threat to the safety of their life and health when they are in this country." This recommendation is valid until the normalization of the situation in Thailand and, accordingly, until a new notice from the sectoral authorities and the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Rostourism notes. Now, according to the Consumer Protection Act, tour operators are not allowed to sell tours to Thailand, as this service is considered unsafe for tourists. Meanwhile, the legal service of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) is perplexed about some details of the decision. It is not clear from the text of the appeal of Rostourism whether tour operators are obliged to refuse those tourists who want to fly to Thailand no matter what. It is also unclear whether customers who were due to travel to Thailand in the coming days can expect a 100 percent refund of the cost of the tour. "In these circumstances, the date of purchase of the tour and the date of the start of the trip are of great importance," the ATOR press service said. "Travel agencies are now faced with force majeure circumstances, or force majeure." and the health of citizens, arise after the conclusion of an agreement with a tourist, but before the start of his trip, the tourist has the right to count on a full refund of the cost of the trip.The tourist who, upon returning from Thailand, provides documentary evidence of the unproven service during a holiday in this country, as well as the fact that that his life was in danger, may receive part of the cost in proportion to the price of the service not rendered to him. "The issue of paying insurance compensation will be decided in each specific case in accordance with applicable law," the ATOR press service said. , there are no mass refusals of Russian tourists from trips to Thailand, unlike India. Not a single case of harm to any of the organized Russian tourists was recorded. Nevertheless, on November 20, the Russian Foreign Ministry recognized Thailand as a country undesirable for tourism and warned against the undesirability of travel until the situation in this country normalizes. "Taking into account the existing likelihood of further aggravation of the situation in Thailand, which may entail a threat to the security of Russian citizens staying there, the Russian Foreign Ministry again warns against traveling to this country until the situation normalizes," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Meanwhile, the demonstrators in the Thai capital have decided to leave the government complex they have occupied since August 26 and concentrate on two airports, an opposition spokesman said. The redeployment has already begun and will be completed by the evening of December 1. The tents pitched on the territory of the complex will be dismantled, ITAR-TASS specifies. As for the airports blocked by the opposition, the company "Airports of Thailand" /AOT/ reported that the Thai authorities had agreed on the possibility of departure of airliners from Subvarnahumi Airport. According to the company's representative, "AOT informed the representative offices of a number of international carriers about the possibility of the airliners departing from the airport if the crew is ready." We are talking about several dozen liners. The agreement was reached a week after the opposition seized the largest Asian airport. 240 thousand tourists cannot leave the country, said the Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Kingdom of Weerasak Kovasurat. "The authorities are doing everything possible to help foreign citizens fly out of the kingdom," he said. From today, there are two check-in centers for passengers in Bangkok itself. One of them is located in the Centara Grand Hotel, the other in the "Bitec" complex.