‘Ural Airlines made a great offer when they started selling single tickets for summer flights at only 3,999 RUR. I am inclined to think a lot of tourists are going to snatch at this chance, even though the locals are not used to taking care of their vacations in advance,’ says Dmitriy Goltsev, director of Grand-Voyage Travel Agency.

One can buy tickets to Sochi, Anapa, Krasnodar, Mineralniye Vody, and Simferopol (all situated at the Black Sea) quite cheaply between February 1 and March 31, 2007.

‘The price of the plane tickets can successfully beat the cheapness of the train ones, which means quite a few people will choose to fly,’ Mr. Goltsev observed.