Sanatoriums in the south of Russia sold out most of their places a month before the May holidays. And 85-90% of rooms have already been booked in the health resorts of Sochi and Crimea for the summer, the Association of Health Tourism and Corporate Health told Izvestia. Many Russians started planning their spring and summer spa treatment back in February. This was not the case before the pandemic. In the future, the increase in the popularity of domestic resorts will be influenced by the extension of the cashback program, which was announced by the President of Russia, experts predict. With its help, vacationers have the opportunity to choose rooms of a higher category and for a longer period. On average, the duration of a resort vacation has increased by two to three days due to cashback.
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There are no seats
In most Russian sanatoriums, almost all rooms have been booked for the May holidays, the Association for Health Tourism and Corporate Health told Izvestia. Especially in those located in the resort regions. Demand exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
“We associate this not only with the closure of foreign destinations due to epidemiological restrictions, but also with the third stage of the Travel across Russia tourist cashback program, which started in March,” Mikhail Danilov, medical director of the Health Tourism and Corporate Health Association, told Izvestia.
Photo: Izvestia / Alexander Polegenko
According to him, the interest of Russians in rehabilitation programs is growing; this factor has also had an impact on the recovery of demand for sanatorium services. Now places for the May holidays can be found only in the sanatoriums of central Russia.
Health resorts in Sochi and Crimea are increasingly forced to respond to customer requests “no places”.
– For the May holidays, 80% of the seats were booked a month ago. Now there are practically no free ones, the load is 95%. The demand has grown significantly compared to 2019. The depth of bookings has also increased: the period from the moment of booking to arrival. People started planning their vacation back in February. This has never happened before. It is worth recognizing this year as unprecedented. The increase in the popularity of Russian health resorts was primarily influenced by the restriction of travel abroad, ”Elena Mosiychuk, General Manager of the Green Flow Hotel (Rosa Khutor resort, Sochi), told Izvestia.
At the same time, people fear that their vacation in Russian resorts may be disrupted due to a pandemic or for other reasons.
– Many people are very worried, every day they call and write, ask if their vacation is valid, – noted the commercial director of Palmira Palace Resort & SPA (Crimea, Yalta) Elena Bizyuk.
According to her, the occupancy rate in this health resort on the eve of the May holidays is under 100%. And this is the situation in Crimea now for almost all organizations of this profile.
Photo: Izvestia / Nikolay Sidenkov
If we talk about the demand for the summer, the health resorts of Sochi and Crimea are reporting 85-90 percent utilization right now, said Mikhail Danilov.
In the sanatoriums of Central Russia for May, you can still buy vouchers. But their representatives are confident that this will not last long.
– Today the occupancy rate before the May holidays is about 70%. Now people are afraid to book places in advance. Therefore, we expect an increase in demand in the near future, – concluded the commercial director of the sanatorium “Dyuny” (St. Petersburg, Sestroretsk resort) Nikolai Kalygin.
All industry representatives interviewed by Izvestia stressed that prices for services in their institutions remained at the level of 2019.
Cashback continues
On April 21, President Vladimir Putin in a message to the Federal Assembly said that the cashback program, which makes it possible to return part of the funds for tours within the country, must be extended at least until the end of the year. So that as many people as possible can improve their health in sanatoriums and resorts.
Photo: Press Service of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation / kremlin.ru
– The tourist cashback program from Rosturizm really helps to increase demand and allows our citizens to choose rooms of a higher category and, most importantly, to undergo health programs for more days than they planned earlier, – said Mikhail Danilov.
According to him, on average, the length of stay increased by two to three days due to cashback.
– The news about cashback is great. Demand will continue to grow. This will help us a lot in the offseason. The people are already accustomed to this loyalty program, which makes holidays in Russia more popular., – noted Elena Bizyuk.
In addition to standard sanatorium-resort vouchers, post-sore rehabilitation programs are in demand in many sanatoriums. The cost of such a vacation starts from 65-100 thousand rubles for two weeks, Nikolay Kalygin told.
However, as Izvestia previously wrote, a patient after suffering from COVID-19 disease can go to a spa treatment and free of charge, in the direction of the attending physician. Galina Ivanova, the chief rehabilitation specialist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, spoke about this publication. According to her, about 23 sanatoriums are already actively working in this direction. These are institutions of Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Moscow region, Northwestern Federal District, Siberia.
According to the rehabilitation therapist, the sanatoriums accept patients who have small, mild residual effects in order to consolidate the results of the rehabilitation carried out after the illness. For patients who have survived a severe course of coronavirus infection, Galina Ivanova recommends to undergo a full course of rehabilitation in a hospital.