Sales of tours abroad 10-30% down in Ukraine due to political events

Sales of tours abroad have fallen by 10-30% due to the political crisis in Ukraine, although are do not canceling early bookings for the spring and summer periods, experts polled by Interfax-Ukraine have said.

TUI Ukraine Director General Volodymyr Schupak said that sales of tours for the winter period fell by 10% year-over-year. He said that the fall was not critical.

"The political factor did not considerably affect demand for TUI Ukraine's tours. Of course, the season factor is present, but we see no tangible deviations from the planned volumes," he said.

The marketing department of NEWS Travel said that sales fell by 20-30%.

"Due to the present situation in the country a certain fall in sales has been seen," an employee of NEWS Travel said.

Schupak said that there are isolated cases of cancellations of tours that were bought earlier. He does not link this with the situation in the country: "The political situation does not affect the number of cancellations of tours."

"It's now the low season. During this period tour, operators make a lot of special offers. This is not linked to cancellations, but to the season," he said.

Schupak said that it was too earlier to speak about reductions of prices for summer offers. The company said that growth in early bookings was seen today.

"We register growth in special offer sales [for early booking] by over 200% compared to the previous year," he said.

NEWS Travel also said that the cancellations of earlier booked tours were almost absent, and high demand for early booking is seen: "Demand is higher than year-over-year."

As reported, demand for foreign tours in Ukraine considerably fell after January 19: tourists are alarmed at the possibility of traveling if a state of emergency is announced.

NEWS Travel (Ukraine) and Biblio Globus (Russia) announced the launch of a joint program for most popular destinations – Turkey, Egypt and Cyprus. NEWS Travel distributes tours and services flight programs, while Biblio Globus provides high-quality rooms and servicing of tourists abroad.

TUI Travel Plc in 2013 bought Ukraine's Turtess Travel, which core business was most popular destinations.