On what day is it cheaper to buy tickets? What is more profitable: last minute tours or early booking?

How to really save on buying a tour - useful articles and notes for travelers on the “Subtleties of Tourism”.

Tours for May Worldwide
Last minute tours Worldwide

Advertising of travel agencies and tour operators convinces us that right now and they have the most the best prices, the most big discounts and the most beautiful hotels. Let's leave this up to the advertisers. My goal is to introduce you to some principles that will help you more confidently navigate this stream of “very-most”, to separate the truth from half-truths and outright lies.

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Last minute deals

Let's start with something simple. Tours with departures 2-6 days after purchase at a low (sometimes very low!) price. If someone urgently had to cancel a trip or there is a demand for this tour lower than expected, then it is more profitable for tour operators to sell it at almost cost than not make any money at all. Last minute deals appear suddenly and then disappear. You will have to decide quickly.

On the websites of online travel agencies, as a rule, a special section is devoted to last-minute travel packages. Our sales managers search for them every day and select them.

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Promotions and sales

For a tourist, a tour is a journey, but for a travel agency it is a product. Therefore, the same methods are used here to increase sales. Promotions, discounts, sales - it's all here. Sometimes the tour operators themselves literally create an attraction of unprecedented generosity, reducing prices for tours to the minimum. It is important not to miss such offers. If you're going on vacation, check out travel agency websites, maybe you'll be able to catch a promotion right now.

For example, with us. And this is a real discount, simply because the season is starting and you need to take advantage of it!

Apartments and villas

Usually the concept of “tour” is associated with accommodation in hotels of different star ratings. But I would recommend paying attention to villas and apartments. Yes, they don’t have “stars,” but this does not mean at all that you will end up in a hotel a la “Second Five-Year Plan” in the city of Konedoevsk, Zakhlyzov region. Such small home-type hotels are common in Montenegro and Bulgaria.

When choosing a villa or apartment for your holiday, keep in mind that this is not a hotel in the usual sense, there are no well-trained doormen here, but it is homely and calm. And the price will please you.

"Fortune"

A system where you buy a tour, but you only find out the exact name of the hotel upon arrival. There's really nothing particularly risky about it. When purchasing a tour, you choose in advance your holiday destination (country, resort, city), type of food and number of stars in the hotel. Does it really matter what it's called?

Previously, “Fortune” was popular among tourists in Egypt and Turkey. Now there are fewer such tours, but they can be found, for example, in Spain and the Dominican Republic. Now for a life hack. Turagentov.ru has a “Hotel Search” function. If you write the word “fortune” in the search bar, you will find all such offers at the moment.

Early booking

Another opportunity to save money that not everyone knows about. In December-January, hotels offer discounts on rooms up to 50%. You can choose a hotel to which high season don't get in. And the tour will cost half as much! The only negative is that after the Early Booking period expires, you cannot change the tour dates, type of accommodation and last names of vacationers.

Seasonality

You can reduce travel costs by vacationing outside of “peak dates.” Tour operators who specialize in summer beach holiday, increase the cost of tours during the May holidays. But after May 10, prices drop sharply again and in the second half of May and June the demand for tours is still low - all kinds of “Special Offers” begin. November holidays and the autumn school holidays cause short-term price increases. You can have an inexpensive holiday from mid-November to mid-December, then the European Christmas holiday begins, which turns into the New Year and Christmas holidays, and prices increase. And from mid-January the period of discounts begins again.

If you have no problems with acclimatization, you are not afraid of high humidity and prefer visiting attractions to swimming, buy an “off-season” tour - Thailand in the summer or Spain in the winter.

Subscribe to price reduction

I wrote above that the cost of the tour varies depending on many conditions. How to catch the moment when the stars align most successfully for its purchase? Affordable way- subscribe to a price reduction. This function is implemented on many travel websites. You simply leave an e-mail, and the site sends you a notification when the price of the tour changes. On Turagentov.ru you can track the price of not only specific tours, but also entire destinations with specified parameters.

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I hope this article will help you better understand the essence of advertising offers from travel agencies. During a crisis, it is important to use every opportunity to save in order to organize a full-fledged vacation without putting too much of a strain on the family budget.

In Soviet times, good workers received vouchers to sanatoriums from trade unions. And when a hard worker for some reason refused a ticket, and even at the last moment, they said that it was “on fire.” The expression “last minute trip” has taken hold and migrated to the modern tourism industry.

Nowadays last-minute tickets are those that are sold a few days before departure and at very low prices. There are especially many such offers during the low season. For beach tours- This early spring And late fall, and for skiers - summer.

Due to the reduction in charter traffic, there are not many last-minute tours now. Tour operators try to make commitments in accordance with forecast demand. The hottest offers are at the beginning of the season, when demand is lower and charter flights have already begun.

Veniamin Bondarev

Where do last minute deals come from?

Tour operators before the start tourist season buy or book air tickets and hotel rooms in advance. The formed tours are sold by travel agencies. But it is impossible to predict exactly how many tickets will be sold.

When they talk about a last-minute ticket, they usually mean a trip that has a very close departure date. In this regard, it needs to be sold urgently. The price goes down because you need to fill the remaining space on the plane and hotel and earn at least something.

In order not to lose the money spent on bookings, tour operators and travel agencies have to sell tours almost at cost. Yes, they will not receive the planned dividends, but they will not remain in the red.

For a tourist, this option is beneficial if he is willing to take risks and wait until the last minute for the sake of a low price or, for example, if free time for the trip appeared suddenly.

Ilya Otkalo

According to Ilya Otkalo, there is no concept of “last minute tour” in the law, so by and large“last minute deal” is just marketing ploy, so that the tourist can highlight offers whose price is lower than the market price. At the same time, by selling cheap tours, travel agencies receive grateful, loyal customers.

Another reason why a trip becomes last minute is the cancellation of already purchased tours. For example, a person was planning a vacation, booked a trip in advance, but literally a week before departure he got sick and canceled the trip. To prevent seats on the plane and hotel rooms from becoming empty, travel agencies reduce the cost of travel packages and try to resell them quickly.

Finally, sometimes last-minute tours appear on the market due to force majeure events in the host country. If the political situation in the state has worsened or disaster, the demand for tours to this country is falling sharply. Tourists can only be lured by a significant reduction in prices so that the desire to save money prevails over safety considerations.

Features of last minute travel packages

Trip to visa-free countries It usually becomes hot 2–5 days before departure, and for countries where a visa is required to travel - 7–10 days. This means that time is running out for everything. In just a couple of days you need to pay for the tour and arrange everything Required documents And .
You need to be prepared for “low-season” service. On the one hand, there will be few tourists around, which is a plus for many. But on the other hand, there is also less entertainment and attention from the staff. Don't be surprised if many shops and restaurants are closed and the hotel guide only offers a couple of excursions.
Travel agencies do not book last-minute travel packages without full payment from the client. If, when purchasing a regular tour, you first pay part of the amount, and give the remaining money later, receiving tickets and a voucher, then in the case of a last-minute tour, you will have to pay it immediately and in full. This money is not refundable.

Thus, a last-minute ticket is an excellent solution for a person who is easy-going but has limited funds. This kind of tour is suitable for you if you don’t care (as long as there is sea, mountains...), and you can adjust your vacation to the trip (and not vice versa).

But you shouldn’t agree to the first “hot” offer you come across. Not every trip that is called last minute is such.

How to find out a real last minute ticket

When the soul and heart require rest, it is difficult to remain calm when faced with sentences that begin with the words “Super promotion!” or “The most low prices season."

But a tempting price tag does not guarantee that this is a really last-minute ticket. Perhaps the price did not fall, but simply became normal. Travel agencies sometimes deliberately inflate the cost of tours in order to later attract customers with discounts. In order not to become a victim of the “attraction of unprecedented generosity,” study the prices on the market and find out how much the package of services offered to you costs in other companies without any discounts.

Many travel agencies, in order to stimulate sales, can pass off regular tours as last-minute tours. They simply take tours with the lowest price and present them as last minute.

Ilya Otkalo

Also, the most ordinary tours with very, very cheap hotels. For example, it could be a hotel that has just opened and has not yet earned a reputation, or a hotel located far from the sea.

Be sure to look at TopHotels.ru or TripAdvisor.ru and find out what kind of hotel they offer you.

You may not be satisfied with the level of comfort, even if the tour is completely free.

You can recognize pseudo-hot tours by other indirect signs.

Prices for accommodation in expensive hotels owned by some large network, are usually stable and do not decrease depending on the tourist season. If you are offered an inexpensive trip with accommodation in such a hotel, there is a high probability that the travel agency has cut down on the package of services somewhere and is disguising the tour as a last minute one.
During national holidays, vacations and vacations, there are very few last-minute offers. If you manage to snag a ticket that was turned down, you're in luck. If a travel agency offers a large assortment of last-minute tours during peak season, be careful.
It is almost impossible to visit any large-scale foreign event, such as a cool music festival or sports tournament, on a last-minute ticket. Flights and hotels for these dates are booked many months in advance. And you should be very careful if a travel agency suddenly makes a “tasty” offer.

You are really offered a last minute tour if:
- less than two weeks left before departure (the closer the departure, the lower the price);
- This is a charter flight;
- Accommodation is offered not in a city hotel, but in a popular beach hotel, where tour operators reserve blocks of places.

Veniamin Bondarev

What you need to pay attention to when buying a last minute ticket

Package of services

In this regard, a last-minute ticket should be no different from one booked in advance. Flight, transfer, meals, accommodation, insurance, excursions - everything is the same as on a regular tour in this country V given time. If you are offered a reduced package of services, then, most likely, they are trying to disguise the trip as a last-minute one.

You need to understand that a last-minute offer may be last-minute because no one simply bought it in advance. The hotel may be lousy, the flight may be inconvenient, the food may be unsatisfactory. Therefore, carefully study the contract and the composition of the offer and, of course, look at the reviews about the proposed hotel.

Ilya Otkalo

Be sure to ask about the reason for reducing the cost of the tour. And in general, do not hesitate to ask the travel agent questions - time is short, and it is better to immediately clarify all unclear points.

Advice: read the contract carefully. Pay attention to the legal details of the tour operator and travel agency, information about the license to carry out tourism activities, dates of flights, check-in and check-out. Study the terms of amendment and termination of the agreement, as well as the procedure for filing claims.

Travel agency reputation

Almost all travel companies offer last-minute travel packages. After all, they all enter into contracts with large tour operators and use their databases. But not all travel agencies fulfill their duties conscientiously, and some sometimes openly cheat.

In order to find out whether the price is really reduced, you can compare tours for upcoming dates using online tour search engines.

Veniamin Bondarev

To buy a cheap last minute tour, and not just a cheap tour with disgusting conditions, contact trusted companies that have been working in the market for a long time. It is best to choose an agency whose services you or your friends have already used. It is also worth looking for reviews on travel forums.

Advice: if you have any doubts, check the tour operator according to the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators, and the travel agency according to the register of travel agencies.

Visa

Last minute tours are usually tours in popular tourist destinations. This is because a ticket receives last minute status 7–10 days before departure. It is difficult to obtain a visa during this time.

Yes, travel agencies usually have already established work with consulates. But difficulties with documents can always arise: the wrong certificate, the application form filled out incorrectly, and so on. And then the client will be denied a visa, he will not fly anywhere and his money will simply be burned.

Advice: To fly to Europe on a last-minute trip, apply for a Schengen visa in advance yourself.

Back in August, Muscovites began to “prepare the sleigh”: book hotels for ski resorts and buy tours to exotic islands. We talked to experts and found out when is the best time to buy a trip, what is cheaper: last-minute trips or early booking, and whether you should rush to buy air tickets to hot countries.

When to buy tours for the New Year and winter

According to experts, you should think about a paradise vacation in 30-degree frost before the end of October. “The decision needs to be made during September-October, and to buy a tour at the end of November. Then there will be few offers, and the most popular hotels will be sold out,” emphasizes CEO tour operator "Pegasus Tourist" Anna Podgornaya.

Other experts believe that with a tour for the winter and New Year We need to decide by the end of October.

Last minute tours or early booking

According to Podgornaya, tours with early booking promotions are cheaper than last-minute ones. The fact is that the price of air tickets for charter flights as part of tour packages is unchanged. But you can save a lot of money on a hotel. “When purchasing a tour with an early booking promotion, the savings on the hotel amount reach 50%. This is significant, since the cost of accommodation is sometimes 60-70% of the tour price,” she explained.

Last-minute tours with below-average prices do not happen very often and there are few of them, the expert added. In addition, even during early booking promotions, tourists try to book the best hotels.

Travelata CEO Alexey Zaretsky warns that on New Year or May holidays There are practically no last-minute tours. "On these peak demand dates, early booking is advisable because the most good options In terms of price-quality ratio, they are sold out in advance. If you buy a tour at the last minute, you’ll have to pay a lot of money or buy what’s left,” he explained.

There will still be last-minute tours in winter: from approximately January 10 to 15. These days everyone is returning home and tour operators are underutilized. In January, after the holidays, Russians rarely take vacation, as it is unprofitable due to small quantity working days.

“It’s very profitable to relax after the holidays - at this time prices fall by 30-40%,” advises Zaretsky.

Where to go

According to the transport adviser, head Federal agency for tourism Dmitry Gorin, the new leader in winter season there will be the UAE. Tour operators benefit from an increase in the number of flights and the abolition of visas.

Next priority Russian tourists the traditional three are “Thailand, Vietnam and Goa”. Israel, Cuba and the Dominican Republic are also popular. The last of all countries Latin America is now in greatest demand when purchasing winter tours. In the Dominican Republic, many hotels operate on an all-inclusive basis, and more charters have begun to fly there, Gorin noted.

According to him, the hurricane in the United States will not affect holidays in the Dominican Republic in any way, because it actually passed by. Cuba suffered more, and it will take some time to restore the infrastructure there.

A trip to Thailand for the winter now costs about 100 thousand rubles for two, with India in second place (about 70 thousand per trip). Next come United Arab Emirates with an average cost of a tour for two 80 thousand.

On New Year's Day, some Russians fly to Turkey, despite the fact that it is cold there. During the cold season, our compatriots are invariably attracted by all inclisive and even lower prices - three times lower than in summer. Early booking promotions prices for winter holidays in Turkey it is 20–30% lower.

According to experts, countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile are also in demand, but mainly among individual tourists.

When to buy air tickets

As the flight gets busy, the price of air tickets increases and can change significantly. It is unlikely that seats will become available closer to departure, but it also happens that the flight is not full and airlines are having sales.

Instructions on how to find and where to buy cheap tours abroad. 8 secrets of buying tours online correctly, which will allow you to have a cheap vacation.

How to buy a last minute ticket?
Where can I look for tours from all tour operators for free?
How to choose and buy a tour online yourself?
What tricks can you use to find cheap travel packages?

Detailed answers to these questions are in our material!

1. Buy tours online

Searching for and buying tours online is cheaper than at travel agencies on the street. In travel agencies the price may be 10-20% higher.

Why is it more expensive in a travel agency?

Firstly, agencies add their own markup to the tour operator’s price. They need to rent an office, pay salaries to employees, and incur other overhead costs. For companies operating via the Internet, these costs are significantly lower.

Secondly, agency managers are not interested in selling you the best cheap tour– the lower the price of the tour, the lower their commission. Therefore, they will unobtrusively offer you more expensive options, focusing on their advantages and downplaying their shortcomings. When buying a trip online, you yourself find the right option and decide for yourself whether the price and conditions suit you.

Where to look for cheap tours?

There are three reliable services - , and . All three have proven themselves well and have sent more than tens of thousands of tourists on vacation. See which one you personally like best.

These search engines compare tour prices from 130 tour operators, allowing you to find the best deals.

Photo: © Hrvoje Grubisic / unsplash.com

How does the purchase work?

The process of purchasing tours online yourself looks like this:

You choose a suitable tour on the website.
If the price and conditions suit you, book; If you have any questions, you can call the manager for free and get a consultation.
Fill in contact information and tourist data.
You pay for the tour either online (with bank card) or in cash at the company office. You can buy a ticket in installments directly on the website.
Immediately after payment, all necessary documents (vouchers, tickets, insurance, etc.) are sent to your email. They have the same legal force, as if they were decorated in an office.

Tour search sites for all tour operators make it easy to find cheap tours thanks to well-thought-out filters. You can set the number of stars for a hotel, rating based on tourist reviews, type of food, price range, tour operator and other parameters - the service will show only results that meet the specified criteria.

An alternative option is to use the ready-made filters “vacation with children”, “close to the beach”, “suitable for couples”.

Why you should buy tours online

2. Use promotional codes and promotions

A great way to save on buying a trip abroad is to use promotional codes and promotions.

Promo codes allow you to get a discount of up to 1500-3000 rubles. Enter them in a special field on the tour payment page - and it will become cheaper by the stated amount.

How to find promotional codes?

Travelata – you can view current promotional codes
Level.travel – sometimes they give promotional codes for certain destinations (see)

How to get a discount? We regularly collect all current offers on the Promo codes for tours page - before purchasing a tour, be sure to look at what discounts are active now.

Sometimes companies are happy special stock- for example, increased miles accrual, discounts on tours, bonuses for installing an application or sending links to friends, competitions with a paid tour as a prize.

3. Choose the right season

When choosing a tour, take into account the tourist season in the country where you want to go.

How does the season affect the cost of tours?

IN low season tours are cheaper. For winter destinations (Thailand, Vietnam, etc.) prices are lower from May to October, for summer destinations (Cyprus, Turkey, Montenegro, European countries) tours cost less from October to April.
Cheapest tours in summer period– at the beginning and end of the tourist season. At this time, prices for tours are lower, there are fewer tourists at the resorts, and the weather is milder. For example, it is better to buy a tour to Turkey in May-June or September-October.

Remember that the low season is called that for a reason - on summer destinations you won’t be able to swim and sunbathe, and on winter destinations it can be cloudy and rainy.

The velvet season has no downsides - traveling to summer destinations in June or September is both cheaper and more favorable in terms of weather (there is no intense heat, as in July and August).

4. Fly from major cities

As a rule, the larger the departure city, the lower the prices for trips from it. A tour from Yekaterinburg or Novosibirsk usually costs less than from Omsk. And the cheapest trips abroad are from Moscow.

When searching for tours online, compare prices from your city and from neighboring cities - perhaps the difference in the cost of the tour will more than cover the cost of traveling to large city. Don't forget that it's not just about money, but also about the time spent on the road.

How to inexpensively get to another city

look for cheap flights via Skyscanner and Aviasales
train tickets – on the Russian Railways website
buses - through the service
travel companions by car – Blablacar

Fresh example. A tour for two people to Cyprus from Voronezh costs 115,000 rubles. A trip with the same conditions from Moscow – 79,000 rubles. Cheaper by 36,000 rubles.

How much does it cost to get from Voronezh to Moscow and back for two:

by plane: 22,000 rubles
by train: from 3700 (reserved seat) to 5200 (compartment)
by bus: 3200 rubles

Savings when purchasing a tour from Moscow - from 14,000 to 32,800 rubles.

Of course, not everyone will want to travel several hours to another city, but the benefits can be tangible. You decide.

Image: the difference between the cheapest tour from Moscow and from Voronezh

5. Experiment with search terms

To find cheap trips abroad, try different conditions when searching for a tour - resort, tour duration, departure dates.

Resort. Tours to two resorts in the same country may cost differently. Look for trips to different cities or enter the entire country in the search field - the system will select the cheapest options automatically.

Duration of the tour. Look for tours with of different durations recreation. In some destinations, tours for 7-12 days can cost less than tours for 3-6 days. For example, tours to Thailand for 3-4 days are rare and expensive; for the same price you can relax for 7-10 days.

See an example of the difference in prices for different durations of vacation in the widget below.

departure date. The price of tours with the same conditions, but different departure dates can vary dramatically. If you planned to fly on Saturday, also look at the prices for Friday and Sunday, and better yet, for other days. The difference can reach up to 5,000-10,000 rubles.

6. Buy at the right time

You can find the cheapest tours either 4-6 months before departure (early booking) or at the last minute (last minute tours). What to choose?

Early booking allows you to purchase a ticket at a discount, albeit not the biggest. You will have time to choose a country, carefully study photos and reviews of hotels, and plan your vacation. In addition, the price of early booking is not affected by almost anything other than the exchange rate.

Last minute tours– the cheapest tours, the discount on them is maximum. But there are also a number of disadvantages:

No guarantee. Last minute trips to the desired destination may not appear closer to the dates of your vacation. Then you will have to buy a tour more expensive than with an early booking.
The best hotels are already occupied. As a rule, good hotels are filled in advance, and last-minute tours offer the remaining options. There may be decent options, but usually the level of hotels is an order of magnitude lower.
There is no time to search for information. Last minute trips are sold out very quickly. If you are in a hurry to buy a tour before someone else sees it, you do not have time to study information about the resort, hotel, etc.

Where and how to look for last-minute tours yourself? Each service has separate pages for selecting last-minute tours:

Remember how to buy a tour cheaper

Buy online - it's safe and convenient
Use promotional codes, follow promotions
Choose a velvet season for your holiday
Check prices for tours from neighboring cities
Try different dates and times
Book in advance or catch last minute tours
Subscribe to price changes
Pay for your trip with a cashback card

In contact with

I go on last minute vacations for several years in a row, you could say this is my principle, I prefer to spend the money I save on vacation. I can’t say anything about Europe and Schengen in particular. I saw a bunch of announcements about burning Spain, Italy, etc. But just the thought of papers and visas keeps me at a respectful distance from these directions.
The really hot destinations for me are Crimea (I don’t consider our south in principle) and visa-free countries. Indeed, sometimes it turns out to be one and a half to two times cheaper (this year a two-week tour to Tunisia cost me 1.6 times cheaper than a regular tour purchased in advance).

How I act. Since I live near St. Petersburg, I have to rely on St. Petersburg travel agencies, although Moscow ones offer much more attractive options. I prefer to search for tours using a computer, although my friend usually does this by simply calling all the companies that interest her.
I carefully and regularly (several times a day) monitor information on the Internet, focusing on the largest operators. It seems to me that the larger the operator, the more significant the price difference can be. The main thing is to be clear about when you want to leave. For example, this year I had a departure date of June 3-6, that’s what I wanted. On May 26, I began to carefully look through the relevant sites. It’s important not to rush here, but also not to miss it. From my own experience, I can say that a really last-minute ticket appears 5-1 days before departure. It happens that if the offer is really tempting, these last-minute tours disappear within 24 hours. Let's say, if on May 28 I found the offer I was looking for on the Neva website (Neva often gives really low prices in these cases) and rushed to get a ticket (and saw a line like in Soviet times for sausage, if anyone still remembers this), then early in the morning of May 30 these offers were no longer available (virtually not a single hotel!), I don’t know about May 29, I didn’t go online on that day. This is a specific example from this year.

Last year I acted according to approximately the same scenario, vacationed in Crimea, in Yevpatoria (mainly because of the child). The tour cost twice as much as usual. I took a trip 2.5 days before departure, I don’t remember the company (there were several options), one of the largest operators in Crimea in St. Petersburg.

I select the appropriate sites and portals in advance, go to the relevant forums, look at the price dynamics to know which offers are really last minute and which, excuse me, are just bullshit.

For me it's just like that summer look“sports”, as a matter of principle, I don’t go on vacation, booking a tour three months in advance...