Russians will be able to purchase tours around the country with cashback until the end of the summer.

This was announced on Wednesday, July 28, in the Federal Tourism Agency.

As the head of the department Zarina Doguzova recalled, a new stage of the money-back program for trips across Russia started on June 16.

At the same time, it was initially possible to buy a ticket until July 31.

“The money allocated by the government for the program allows us to extend the opportunity to purchase with cashback until August 31st.

We made this decision.

Thus, tourists have a whole month to plan their trips for the fall, ”Doguzova said.

According to her, as part of the current stage of the cashback program, citizens can buy package tours and accommodation with the opportunity to travel to any region of the country from October 1 to December 24.

Meanwhile, river and sea cruises can be sent from September 1 until the end of navigation.

As part of the initiative, tourists can return 20% of the cost of the trip, but not more than 20 thousand rubles.

To receive compensation, the trip must be paid with a MIR card, having previously registered it in the loyalty program on the website of the payment system.

The duration of the tour must be at least two nights.

“Since last year the program has been used by more than 2 million people who have bought tours and accommodation for a total of about 35.5 billion rubles.

At the same time, about 6.7 billion rubles were automatically returned to tourists, ”the Federal Tourism Agency said.

Until 2024, the government plans to allocate 5 billion rubles annually for the cashback program.

Such investments will make it possible to qualitatively support the tourism industry, especially during the recovery from the consequences of the pandemic.

RT was told about this by Dmitry Gorin, vice president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).

“In general, the action has already shown itself well, but its prolongation will allow to expand the wings of the season.

In October, there is still a demand for Russian seaside resorts, but the season of sightseeing tours is already starting, and school holidays begin.

Thus, the extension of the sales window allows tourists to take their time to make a choice, and operators to receive more travelers in the autumn-winter period, ”Gorin explained.

According to experts, the initiative has a positive effect on a number of related industries and regional economies. So, about 3 thousand partners take part in the program: hotels, aggregators and tour operators who receive additional income. Against this background, the subjects of the country will have more incentives to increase the demand for tourist services and popularize their resorts among the population. This opinion was shared with RT by Anton Greenstein, an expert at the Hamilton information and analytical center.

“Based on the parameters of the turnover of the Russian tourism sector in previous years, we can expect that the cashback program will add about 0.7-1 percentage points to the industry's growth this year by creating additional demand for 35-36 billion rubles.

As for the separate impact of extending the tourist cashback for another month, this initiative can bring about 0.2 percentage points of growth in the turnover of the entire industry, ”the specialist noted.

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As RT was told in the travel and travel service Tutu.ru, at the moment Russians are most actively buying tickets to sea resorts: Simferopol, Sochi, Anapa and Gelendzhik.

The share of these four directions in the total passenger traffic is now almost 29%.

In addition, the top popular routes included flights from Moscow to Gorno-Altaysk, the number of bookings for which increased 12 times compared to the pre-crisis year 2019.

At the same time, the average check for a flight in Russia is now about 5.6 thousand rubles one way per person, which is 20% less than in the same period in 2019.

Such data was provided to RT by experts of the travel planning service OneTwoTrip.

As Dmitry Gorin emphasized, traditionally in the autumn period prices for tours are lower than in the summer season.

In turn, the cashback program will help citizens save additional money.

“Thus, a trip in the fall, taking into account the cashback promotion, can cost 50% less than a similar tour in July-August. In this case, you can go both to the south and book a hotel in Kazan, Pskov or other excursion cities of the country. There are categories of tourists who are specifically waiting for the start of a new stage of cashback and thus count on vacation in order to relax on favorable terms, ”Gorin concluded.