This holiday season’s most popular destinations were Egypt, Thailand, and Bali as usual. A sort of myth was formed as early as the fall that made people think very few tours would be available, so the trips were booked two to three months before New Year. The trips were quite expensive even then, but this did not stop the booming sales. By the way, the tour operators actually provided enough tours for the travelers, so one could easily book a trip two weeks before the start of the New Year break, and at a much better price,’ Director of Zima-Leto Travel Company Olga Gulyar told UrBC.

‘Now that the recession is over the number of tourists went up by about 20%. The tour operators offered some discounts on winter trips, which proved a very clever decision to make: people wer really making an effort to go abroad for the holidays. As for the havoc at Moscow’s airports, I’d like to point out that Ural travelers usually try to fly from Yekaterinburg, so the troubles did not affect them much,’ Ms Gulyar said.

‘I can’t really tell you just now how much the prices have changed compared to last year. In fact, every year can be unpredictable in the tourist industry,’ she added.