How to choose the best tour operator in Russia, whom you can safely entrust your money and carefree mood to?
Based on the rating of tour operators in Russia in 2019 from the aggregator Travelata, which has been on the market for more than seven years, we have compiled a rating of reliability of tour operators in Russia in 2019. The assessment was based on the following criteria:
- availability and size of assets (the more - the better);
- quality of services;
- the lifetime of the tour operator on the market (the longer, the more reliable the company is);
- availability of additional services, for example, visa, insurance, hotels;
- customer ratings.
| № | Tour operator | Founded | Directions | Claims | Reliability | General index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coral Travel | 1992 | 35 | 1,66% | A ++ | 98/100 |
| 2 | TUI | 1995 | 33 | 1,95% | A + | 98/100 |
| 3 | Tez Tour | 1994 | 30 | 1,07% | A ++ | 92/100 |
| 4 | Sunmar | 1995 | 23 | 4,12% | A ++ | 90/100 |
| 5 | AnexTour | 1996 | 32 | 7,25% | A + | 90/100 |
| 6 | Pegas Touristik | 1994 | 22 | 5,62% | A ++ | 88/100 |
| 7 | NTK-Intourist | 1929 | 23 | 7,14% | A ++ | 88/100 |
| 8 | Biblio globus | 1994 | 53 | 4,9% | A ++ | 86/100 |
| 9 | Mouzenidis Travel | 1995 | 8 | 2,37% | B | 86/100 |
| 10 | ICS Travel Group | 1992 | 62 | 4,17% | A ++ | 82/100 |
10 best tour operators in Russia 2019
10. ICS Travel Group
The company, which opens the list of the leading tour operators in Russia in 2019, has been operating in the tourism market for 27 years.
Here you can book tours to 30 countries of the world. In addition to the traditional "beach" direction for Russia, this includes the countries of Western Europe, South-West Asia, Latin America, as well as very near abroad - the countries of the former USSR.
9. Mouzenidis Travel
This company specializes mainly in tours to Greece. For more than 20 years she has been taking our compatriots to the warm shores of the Mediterranean Sea, to the friendly descendants of the Hellenes.
But Mouzenidis Travel can boast not Greece alone. Over the past few years, the tour operator has somewhat expanded the list of destinations, including Western Europe, as well as two post-Soviet countries - Georgia and Armenia.
Besides tourism from Russia, Mouzenidis Travel is expanding its tourism services to Russia. After all, some Greeks are as bored by the sun as we are by snow.
8. Biblio-Globus
Until the early 2000s, Biblio-Globus existed somewhere on the outskirts of the tourist world. However, the company slowly but surely developed and nowadays has become one of the largest players in its industry. It was this tour operator that was the leader in the Cyprus direction for a long time, and now it has more than 50 countries in its assets.
In addition, Biblio-Globus was the first in Russia to make the selection of tours dynamic. That is, the tour selection program in real time changes the price depending on the cost of air tickets, hotels, demand for a destination, and so on.
7. VAO "Intourist"
The old horse does not spoil the furrow, and in the case of Intourist this horse is not just old, but superstar. Intourist was founded in 1929 and during the Soviet era was the main tour operator in the country.
After the reorganization of 1990, Intourist's affairs were shaken a little, but after the conclusion of a partnership with the English company Thomas Cook, they started to improve.
The company specializes in tourism not only from Russia, but also to it. At the moment it holds one tenth of the inbound tourism market. Interestingly, Russia is most popular with the Chinese, Indians and Iranians.And residents of Russia wishing to relax abroad can find advantageous offers from Intourist both in Europe and South-West Asia, as well as Latin America.
6. Pegas Touristik
Like many other popular Russian tour operators, the company started from Turkey and Egypt. However, after the recent sad events in these countries, she decided to change her orientation and began to actively explore the countries of South-West Asia, known for their delicious cuisine and relative cheapness.
At the moment, the Pegas Touristik group is consistently among the top 10 leading Russian travel operators, and has offices throughout the country, in 250 cities.
The company's charter flights depart from more than fifty cities in the Russian Federation. The tour operator's directions are traditional, beach - from Greece, Turkey and Spain to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Mexico.
5. ANEX Tour
A significant advantage of ANEX Tour in comparison with other tour operators is low prices. True, the most advantageous offers have to be constantly monitored, because the competition for them is very high.
The destinations of ANEX Tour are very different, however, regardless of the country of destination, tourists note the high quality of the services provided. And at the end of December last year, the Kremlin bought ANEX Tour. But not the one in the center of Moscow, but the Kremlin Palace - its imitation on one of the the best resorts in Turkey, Antalya. So far, the hotel is being updated in connection with the wishes of the new owner, and tourists will be able to visit the islet of Mother Russia abroad starting from April this year.
4. Sunmar
Two years ago, in the summer of 2017, Sunmar, which had existed on the market for 12 years, became the property of the first place in the rating - Coral Travel Group. It differs from the parent company primarily in its cheapness. Services are provided in packages, there are only two packages, but their price is the same all year round.
Moreover, you can save even more if you manage to catch a hot tour or, conversely, book a tour in advance. For example, for the summer - in February, and for the winter - in July. Just keep in mind that the total amount of the tour will always turn out to be higher, since the fuel surcharge is paid separately and is included in the bill at the last moment. Sunmar Travel can offer some of Top Travel Destinations 2019 - Turkey, Greece, Spain, Thailand, but there are also more exotic ones - for example, India or Morocco.
3. Tez-tour
The third place in the rating is taken by a company that has been regularly transporting tourists to the sunny shores of Turkey and Egypt for more than twenty-five years. Once "Tez-tour" specialized in cheap trips to these two countries, and now it has significantly expanded its coverage area.
In addition to the time-tested beach destinations, its services companies began to include such exotic countries for Russia as Mexico and China. The company is actively exploring the countries of the former USSR, and already 12 times in a row has been awarded a gold medal in Belarus for the quality of services provided.
However, not all is well in the kingdom "Tez-tour". It is still unknown how the arrest of the head of the airline affiliated with it iFly will affect the functioning of the company (he was caught taking a bribe). The representatives of the tour operator themselves insist that tourists will not notice any difference, and the share of iFly in transportation from Tez-Tour is allegedly negligible.
2. TUI Group
One of the few foreign players in the Russian tourism market, and one of the largest in the foreign market. TUI Group has focused entirely on the tourism industry relatively recently, and previously was engaged in transportation. The company has many hotels around the world, many of which are known to Russian tourists, for example, the Turkish FUN & SUN.
In general, the company focuses on recreation in hotels in proven directions, where the tourist infrastructure is well developed, be it a beach vacation, excursions or extreme tourism. One of the company's specialties is cooperation with world famous hotel lines, as well as self-developed programs for recreation.
1. Coral Travel
The most reliable tour operator in 2019, one of the long-livers of the Russian market, which has already celebrated a quarter of a century.The reason for the success of Coral Travel is its powerful material base, thanks to which the tour operator has the opportunity not only to offer its clients proven and popular destinations like Greece and Egypt, but also such rare ones as, for example, Gambia.
Today Coral Travel can offer directions to more than 28 countries of the world, and the company has representative offices both in the countries of the former USSR and in neighboring Poland. This is one of the few tour operators on the Russian market that has the ability to send its clients on charter flights, and not only from Moscow.
The official website of Rostourism, the rating of tour operators in Russia does not publish, the best rating is the one that is based on reviews of tourists.
Trust tour operators or organize your vacation yourself
Daria Toropova
Head of the client department of the online service for the search and booking of tours Travelata.ru
“Unfortunately, last year it was not without bankruptcies of tour operators, one of them was quite large, and every year a considerable number of outbound tour operators leave the market. As a rule, these are small tour operators that aggregator services do not work with. Still, tour operators should be trusted.
It makes sense to pay attention to tour operators that have been on the market for a long time. It is they who allow you to save on vacation, thanks to charter flights and special offers for hotels on mass destinations. In order not to be mistaken, tourists should choose trusted large travel agencies that can assess the reliability of tour operators.
In general, the regulatory authorities of the Russian Federation are trying to amend the legislation in order to avoid major bankruptcies and loss of money by clients. "