SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt), July 3 Turkey is currently the most popular outbound destination for Russians, followed by Egypt, which has been developing its opportunities for tourists in recent years, but it still has no chance of taking Turkey's place in the hearts of its compatriots, said Anex Russia CEO Eldar Musaoglu.
«Egypt is currently fluctuating between second and third place in popularity among Russians, but I don't think it has a chance of taking Turkey's place. I don't think Egypt will be able to redirect the flow of Russian tourists from Turkey to itself in the near future,» he said.
According to the top manager, there are several reasons for this. «Firstly, there are more hotels there, and secondly, there is an established habit of our tourists who have been going to Turkey for decades. They have already gotten used to Turkish service and hospitality, which Egypt is only just striving to achieve,» Musaoglu said.
However, he notes that the tourist flow to Egypt will «definitely» grow in the near future thanks to the rapid improvement of the infrastructure there. «But not to the level of Turkey, of course,» Musaoglu is sure.
At the same time, it still wins in price — on average, a tour to Egypt is now cheaper than a trip to Turkey. «This ratio can change depending on a specific line of hotels, but on average it is cheaper — by 10-15 percent,» the top manager explained.
He gave an example that this year Anex has already seen a 1.5-fold increase in sales to Egypt, and the average duration of the trip has increased to 9 nights, more than half of which are all inclusive in five-star hotels.