Those who plan to spend the winter vacation outside the country make reservations with travel agencies beforehand so as to profit from advantageous offers. The most popular destinations have been the same during many years. The Moldovans go to the mountains in Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria. The “hot vacations” on the seaside in winter are also popular.
Director of the travel agency TopVoyage Elena Fetescu has told IPN that the packages for the winter vacation are prepared in August-September, when the demand appears. Those who want to benefit from discounts should purchase a ticket by the end of October or November, depending on the supply. A three-night stay in Ukraine and Romania costs €90 with breakfast included. In Bulgaria, the tourists will pay €180 and more for six nights. The costs are yet higher as the skiing equipment and other recreational activities at the mountains are paid separately. Those who want to spend the winter vacation on the seaside, in Egypt, will pay €600-700 for a seven-day stay, by €200-300 more than they would pay for the same offer in November or at the start of December. The festive dinners are paid separately and cost about €100 per adult.
The tour operators recommend those who want to go on vacation on the New Year’s Eve to make reservations in advance. There are also offers for the United Arab Emirates with flight from Odessa. Prices start from €500 de euro per adult and cover the flight, accommodation, insurance and breakfast. Among the exotic destinations are Thailand, India and the Dominican Republic for which the prices start from US$1,000 per person for a seven-day stay.
Vice director of the travel agency “Panda Tur” Dumitru Cojuhari said the prices for such top destinations as Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine rose by about 10%. The hotels increased the prices, but the agency makes effort to maintain the prices at the last year’s level. In some of the hotels, there are no available places for particular period of time already. For example, the Bukovel resort in Ukraine developed a lot recently from infrastructural viewpoint and even if the altitude there is not as high as at the mountains in Romania or Bulgaria, the destination is popular.
In Bulgaria, a six-day vacation starts from €165. The offer includes transport, accommodating, breakfast and the services of a guide. The hotels in Bulgaria with which the agency cooperates have SPA centers and this is an advantage appreciated by tourists. Dumitru Cojuhari noted the people started to make reservations beforehand as they can this way benefit from a discount of up to 40%. Tourist offers will be available closer to the New Year too, but the variety will not be as wide.
A large part of the tour operators already started to make reservations for next summer, among the destinations being Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus. Some of the travel agencies propose packages that allow for exceptions in case something intervenes and the person cannot go on vacation. They can choose someone else to go instead of them and the invested money is thus not lost.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 109,000 Moldovan tourists and excursionists travelled abroad through the agency of tour operators and travel agencies in January-June 2018. The Moldovans preferred such destinations as Turkey (33.6%), Bulgaria (20.0%), Romania (14.7%), Egypt (12.2%), Greece (6.8%), Ukraine (3.9%), Italy (1.1%), Spain (0.9%), Czech Republic (0.8%), Hungary (0.6%) and the United Arab Emirates (0.6%).
