Travelata company, which has been cooperating with various travel organizations for many years, has compiled a list of the best tour operators in Russia. The 2018 reliability rating includes the 10 largest travel companies, which were rated on 10 criteria. These include: the size of assets, the number of offers, the duration of the market, reliability and, of course, customer reviews.
We have updated reliability rating of tour operators in Russia in 2019, the list below should be considered outdated.
Which airline to fly: Russian airlines rating, the safest and most punctual.
10. Mouzenidis Travel
Opens the top 10 2017-2018 Mouzenidis is a company that deals exclusively with Greece. For more than 20 years our fellow citizens have been visiting Athens, relaxing on the beaches of Crete and diving in the sea in Halkidiki thanks to Mouzenidis. The low place in the rating of Mouzenidis is largely due to the small number of offered directions, and everything else is at a fairly high level, including the number of satisfied customers (97.63%).
9. Biblio Globus
Biblio Globus is one of the leaders in the 2018 ranking: it offers 52 destinations. You will be taken to the best beaches in the world, organize active tourism, cruises, excursions and much, much more. The number of satisfied customers is 95.1%.
8. Anex Tour
Anex Tour specializes in Spain and Thailand. Unfortunately, the reputation of the company was slightly spoiled by the death of a tourist on the beach due to a strong underwater current, about which the guides did not warn her and other swimmers. Although Anex has its own airline, there are not so many satisfied with the services of Anex as with the previous number of the chart - 92.75%.
7. Natalie Tours
Natalie Tours was once the fourth largest tour operator in Russia. But now, in connection with the collection by the Moscow Arbitration Court of the debt in favor of AK Transaero, 5.8 million dollars, it is not known how the company will go in the future. However, Natalie continues to evolve and even recently radically revised the tour booking system on its website. The number of satisfied customers is 95%.
6. Intourist
In sixth place in the rating of tour operators in 2018, Intourist is the oldest travel company in Russia, founded back in 1929, and in 1990 it was a separate branch of the country's economy. With the collapse of the USSR, the company set off on an independent voyage, and in 2010 organized a joint venture with the British tour operator Thomas Cook. At the moment, the share of Intourist in the tourist services market is about 10%. 92.86% of those who bought tours from Intourist evaluate their impressions of the company positively.
5. Pegas Touristik
Although in 2015 Rosturizm excluded Pegas Touristik along with 19 other companies that had the misfortune to have Turkish citizens among the founders from the Unified Federal Register, this did not interfere with business. After the warming of relations between Moscow and Ankara, the place in the register was restored. "Pegasus" continues to work actively, taking citizens to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and not only - in the assets of the tour operator 22 budget tourism destinations in 2018 Worldwide.
Plus Pegasus has two own airlines, Pegas Fly and Nordwind Airlines. The number of positive reviews is 94.38%.
4. Sunmar Tour
One of the best tour operators in Russia in 2018 was the first to specialize in budget tours that can be booked just a couple of days before departure at a very pleasant price.This service is primarily popular with young people, as well as spontaneously thinking people, for whom it is not difficult to instantly jump off the spot. However, the cheapness is not always good - the number of satisfied customers with Sunmar Tour services was 95.88%.
3. TEZ TOUR
The tour operator is one of the largest in Russia and has been operating in the travel market since 1994. At the moment, it occupies a leading position in the market of Turkish and Egyptian tours, and since December 2016 has been actively developing the Chinese direction - Hainan Island. The number of positive reviews is 98.93%, which makes TEZ TOUR one of the most reliable travel operators in Russia.
2. TUI
TUI Travel PLC is part of the large travel holding TUI Group, the world's largest travel company. Every year more than 30 million tourists from all over the world use the services of the TUI Group, of which more than 700 thousand people are in the Russian branch. By the way, TUI is the first travel company on the Russian market that uses "mystery shoppers" to control the quality of its own services. The number of positive reviews is 98.05%.
1. Coral Travel
And the first place in the top tour operators in Russia in 2018 with a 98/100 rating is taken by Coral Travel. It is one of the oldest companies on the market, founded almost a quarter of a century ago, and one of the largest. It has 9 branches in the countries of the former CIS and neighboring countries, as well as more than 20 representative offices in Russia.
Among the tours offered by the company are popular destinations like the Middle East and Southeast Asia, as well as exotic ones like South Africa.
The high rating of Coral Travel was ensured not only by the variety of destinations (there are 28 of them), but also by the service, such as having its own host companies, reliable insurance, agreements with airlines, and so on. The number of satisfied customers is 98.34%.
| Rating | Tour operator | Directions | Claims | Reliability | General index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coral Travel | 35 | 1,66% | A ++ | 98/100 |
| 2 | TUI | 33 | 1,95% | A + | 94/100 |
| 3 | Tez Tour | 30 | 1,07% | A ++ | 92/100 |
| 4 | Sunmar | 23 | 4,12% | A ++ | 90/100 |
| 5 | NTK-Intourist | 23 | 7,14% | A ++ | 88/100 |
| 6 | NatalieTours | >50 | 5% | A ++ | 88/100 |
| 7 | Pegas Touristik | 22 | 5,62% | A ++ | 88/100 |
| 8 | AnexTour | 30 | 7,25% | A + | 86/100 |
| 9 | Biblio globus | 52 | 4,9% | A ++ | 86/100 |
| 10 | Mouzenidis Travel | 8 | 2,37% | B | 84/100 |
Keep in mind that the official website of Rostourism does not publish the rating of tour operators in Russia, the best rating is the one that is based on reviews of tourists.
Three times with BiblioGlobus I went to rest - quite nothing, there were no special problems. What made me happy - all three times flew with "Russia", and this reliable airline.
Biblio-Globus, took vouchers with early booking in February to Montenegro from Moscow. The operator did not really explain about the insurance of the vouchers, muttering something under his breath, two weeks later, the spouse was put on an operation, asked to return some of the money or arrange another person instead of the spouse , wanted to take my niece, which is done by other tour operators with reissuance of documents with an additional payment of 20 euros for documents, to which I was told that this cannot be done only with recounting, since you had an early booking, although at the airport upon departure and upon arrival, at the hotel asked where the third and the tour will cost in both cases 50-70 thousand more. More in Biblio Globe is not a leg.
In TUI itself, they say that by the end of next year they plan to enter the top 5 largest tour operators in terms of the volume of sending tourists and, possibly, even compete for fourth place.
The only reason that Intourist was chosen is the lowest price for the tour. At "Biblioglobus" the cost of exactly the same tour was 10-15 thousand more expensive, and since the budget was very limited, we decided to get acquainted with a new tour operator for us.
Usually the rest goes without problems, but if they arise, it immediately becomes clear: who is who! For the first time (and last) we took a tour to Turkey from Natalie Tours. Yes, with a lowercase letter. Booked the Sural resort in March for July. The hotel is large, "luxurious" as described.And, what is important for me, there are water slides, well, I like them! Upon arrival at the "resort" there were no seats, but we were told that "Sural saray" had been booked for us. Also five, but much simpler: a small bass, a small area and no slides. Perhaps, the hotel has messed up with the numbers, another outrages - there is no reaction from Natalie. The guide said: either take your little things to the barn, or I'm leaving. We contacted the travel agent, then for 3 hours he contacted the operator: either the operator cannot get through to the reception, then the fig knows what. We asked the manager to call the phone sounded by the tour operator - they do not pick up the phone. The travel agent spent 4 days sorting out the relationship with Natalishka, then sent an official request. To an official request, they replied that they were accommodated in a room with an equivalent category. Well and that they are very sorry. When choosing a tour, I will be the last place to call the room. A family was traveling with us to the barn, they were also thrown by the hotel, but their tour operator Tui solved the issue and the next day they were returned to the resort. There are such stories, even such a case is spelled out in the contract. With Anex we had a problem when checking in, but we decided quickly, beautifully and not offensively: instead of four, we settled in five and gave us a boat trip.
Well, we finished the same way as we started: information about the return flight was not provided, the receptionist found out until 24 hours when we would be picked up from the hotel. Just ugh! It's also a shame that I could immediately book the "barn", especially since it was cheaper.
Yes, people can do their job badly, forget to post the check-out time, be too lazy to solve some issue from their competence, but after all, a devil-may-care attitude towards clients is
the official position of this tour operator. In a word, I do not recommend this tour operator to anyone.
Anex Tour also carries huge buses to the hotel and on excursions. The people are dissatisfied, but at least they have something. And yet Anex loves to sell one hotel and settle in another. Themselves so hit. The hotel, although it had great stars, was much worse and, by the way, cheaper than the one we went to. Then in the reviews we read that they regularly do this.
I do not recommend Tui. They save money on transfers at the expense of tourists. Were in Turkey this month, the distance from the airport to the hotel by road is 75 km. The road is normal, straight, no traffic jams. And there and back they stuffed a bunch of people from different hotels into one huge bus. Not only do you have to call in 10 other people's hotels, but this healthy bus does not fit anywhere and spins for 5 minutes near each one. As a result, it took 2.5 hours from the airport to the hotel (!), And from the hotel to the airport, 3.5 hours (!!!). The guide on the bus is a student intern, apparently works for food, the qualifications are appropriate. I believe that the transfer is the main indicator of the tour operator, since this is the only thing that they organize independently (the hotel and the airline have their own managers).
Biblio-Globus is not customer oriented! Your own benefit is more important! Inconvenient conditions for tourists!