Federal Media Overview

Current summer topics include last-minute travel offers and, unfortunately, fraudsters speculating on discounts. During the programme 'Utro Rossii' on Russia 1, Dmitry Gorin gave advice on how to protect oneself from dishonest companies. 'When you book a tour you should check the legality of the company on the website of the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism (Russiatourism) or of Association TourAssist. Very high discounts are the first sign of a possible fraud. You should never pay for a tour in cash without a receipt, or transfer money to an individual's card'. (Read full article here)

Legal companies are now offering good discounts for Turkey. Dmitry Gorin told BFM where they came from, and in what other periods you can find cheap tours 'Speaking of pricing, in early booking offers were available in February-March, but later prices increased on average by 15-20%. Now we can see that several hotels have special offers, with 10-15% discounts. This means that there are still rooms available, so it is possible to book cheap last-minute tours. There is a similar situation in Bulgaria and Greece as well. Usually all hotels raise their prices in July-August, but if not all rooms are booked they adjust their prices, as they are doing now'. The General Director of Vipservice also noted that tourists can expect the next wave of discounts during the autumn. In Turkey, for example, it lasts until November. (Read full article here)

When going on vacation, you should not forget about the visa requirements of your country of destination. Tourists must have a return ticket and an accommodation voucher, otherwise they may be denied entry into the country. This happened to a group of Russian tourists at the South Korean border. 'These people were not able to confirm that the purpose of their travel was tourism. In 2013 our countries entered into a visa waiver agreement, but it applies only to tourism. It does not apply to people travelling for study, work and other purposes. This means that tourists, upon their arrival, must have their return tickets, a certain amount of money, the hotel accommodation voucher or the contact details of the host's representative, - explained the Advisor to the Head of Federal Tourism Agency Dmitry Gorin in his interview with RIA Novosti's correspondent (Read full article here)

In August charter flights will increase by 11%. The implementation and development of the programmes were approved at the meeting of the Federal Air Transportation Agency. During the meeting it was noted that, during the reporting period (15 June-14 July 2019) all airlines met the requirements for punctuality of charter flights, and confirmed the availability of aircraft for successful implementation of the programme in August. All charter flight programme can thus be implemented in full', - said the Advisor to the Head of Federal Tourism Agency and General Director of Vipservice Dmitry Gorin to the Bulletin of the Association of Tour Operators. (Read full article here)