What is more profitable to travel on your own or with a package? Inexpensive holiday: last minute tour or independent travel? What is the most profitable way to vacation on a package without

Looking for cheap tour? Find out 7 secrets on how to find and buy a trip online at a profit in 2020. Independently and at the best price. And let the travel agencies turn green with anger. Have a cheap holiday!

Attention! Read below about coronavirus and safe purchase of tours this year.

I don't like overpaying for a vacation. I'm sure you do too. There is always the opportunity to fly to a resort inexpensively: to Turkey for , to Greece for , to Thailand for , to the Dominican Republic for rubles. These are real examples of cheap travel packages that I have found. Find out where and how to find such last-minute tours.

This guide is already four years old. If you are a reader my travel blog, then you know that I am an avid traveler and a passionate hunter for cheap tours and tickets. In this review, I outlined my experience and knowledge of finding inexpensive travel packages. Learn how to relax without extra costs!

Rules for searching and purchasing the cheapest tours:

How to buy a tour safely during coronavirus

What a year it has been, friends!

The epidemic and closed borders prevent normal travel. The situation in the world is tense, almost all countries are closed to entry, tourism has come to a standstill. But all these are temporary measures. And although this spring we will definitely have to forget about traveling abroad and even limit movements within Russia, closer to summer the borders should open, and the world will live as before again. I believe in it!

The question arises: how to plan a vacation in such a difficult time?

It's actually quite simple.

Firstly, in April it’s definitely worth staying at home. It is not yet safe to ride even in Russia. Let's wait out the crisis and not let the epidemic spread across our country. If the quarantine is lifted in a month, then in May it will be possible.

Secondly, you can safely buy a tour for summer and autumn right now. Some tour operators now allow travel packages to be purchased with free cancellation. I advise you to look for such tours on the services and, where I most often buy tours myself. Just check the box next to the inscription "Free Cancellation". Please read your tour operator's cancellation terms and conditions carefully to understand the rules. Still, there are restrictions there, and you should be aware of them. And don’t hesitate to ask questions to the managers of these sites: helping you with the purchase of a tour is their job.

On this moment Free cancellation is available for tours to Tunisia and Greece, and may soon appear for other destinations.

Please note that prices for tours have dropped significantly now - you can take advantage of this.

Below, read my tips for buying inexpensive tours.

Be healthy and have a speedy holiday for all of us!

1. Buy tours online

Travel agencies on the street sell tours at a higher price than online tour search engines. The last time I bought a ticket at a travel agency office was back in 2012. Then convenient and reliable online tour search services appeared - now I only use them. I no longer go to the offices of greedy travel agencies - it’s more convenient and profitable to buy tours on the Internet.

Why are travel agencies more expensive? The reason is the human factor - cunning managers in travel agencies by all possible ways they encourage the client to buy a more expensive tour package. They fundamentally do not want to sell tours for 5, 10, 20 thousand - the percentage from such transactions is not enough for them, they need more gold!

Where to look for cheap tours online? I use three search engines: , and . All three are reliable and very comfortable. Choose which one you like best.

Install the mobile application. Travelata has an excellent app: download it for or and use the current promotional code when purchasing a tour AF600MOBmake-trip- you will receive a discount of 600 rubles on any tours costing over 50,000 rubles.

How do tour search engines work? They compare prices among 130 popular tour operators and find the cheapest tours. Finding and booking a tour yourself is easy. You see full information according to the package: hotel, flight, food, tourist reviews and so on. You choose the tour that you like. Do you have any questions? Ask them to a consultant via chat or phone. Secure online payment by credit card. The tour can also be purchased in installments.

Offices and consultants. All three search engines have offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and others major cities. There is also a hotline support line. So it's easy to interact with them.

Pros of buying tours online:

Big choice. Compare prices from all tour operators to find the cheapest tour. Compare - save!
Convenient and fast. There is no need to go to travel agency offices, waste time on travel, waiting and communication. You can find and book a tour in 15-30 minutes at home or at work. When buying last-minute tours, speed is especially important: if you find a cheap tour, buy it in a couple of clicks before it disappears.
Safely. Search engines work only with reliable tour operators. Payment takes place using a secure protocol. There is a 24/7 support service.
Independence. I recommend searching and purchasing tours on your own. It’s more reliable this way - you know better than anyone what exactly you need and at what price. No interference from others - no opportunity to confuse you. In offices, managers are often cunning or simply incompetent.
Documents - immediately. When purchasing a tour online, all reservations and confirmations will be sent by email immediately after payment. In a regular agency, employees like to delay the issuance of documents - they did it, we know.
Reliable. I trust large online search engines, and with a large customer base and a well-known name. Travel agencies with motley names like “Cactus”, “Sea of Dreams” or “Marina Travel” scattered along the streets of Russian cities - no.

Our holiday in Greece on the island of Rhodes in June 2019 on a last-minute tour for 27,000 rubles for two. It was possible to take a tour for 21,000, but we chose a cool and cozy hotel a little more expensive. We really enjoyed:)

2. Be flexible with deadlines and dates.

We often have many restrictions: strictly fixed vacation days, personal matters and obligations. However, try to achieve as much freedom as possible in choosing dates - this will save money.

See different departure days. Your vacation starts on Monday and you found a tour for that day for 50 thousand? Check flights on Tuesday or Wednesday - maybe there will be tours for 30 thousand. I encounter this regularly.

Change the length of rest. Often (not sometimes, but often!) 7-night tours are cheaper than 5-night tours, 10-night tours are cheaper than 8-night tours, and so on. Don't limit yourself - check out all the options! Check the prices in the calendar.

I'm sailing along Indian Ocean. Photos from my trip to the Maldives in spring 2019. On paradise islands We had a super cheap vacation - for the price of a trip to Crimea!

3. Be flexible in your choice of resort

If you are a monogamous person who prefers to go on vacation to the same place every year, then choosing a destination is not a question for you. I recommend everyone else consider different resorts - your chances of buying a cheap tour will increase.

How does direction affect price?

Eat traditionally expensive destinations( , ). There are cheap destinations (,).
Seasonality plays an important role: it is cheaper to fly to some resorts in the summer, to others in the winter, and to others in the spring or autumn.
Random factors also work. For example, a tour operator sold few tours to one of the destinations and decided to reduce prices - last-minute tours appear.

Do you want to buy the cheapest tour? Look at as many destinations as possible. Compare not only countries, but also individual resorts within the same country.

Our holiday in the Maldives, island. The beaches there are luxurious!

4. Buy tours from Moscow

It is for flights from Moscow that you can find the cheapest tours. Competition and a developed air transportation system are driving prices down. Sometimes the difference in price compared to other cities is colossal.

What should a non-capital tourist do?

First, check if you can find a cheap tour from your city. Found it? Great - let's take it! If not, then it is worth expanding the geography of departure cities.

See if there are cheap tours from neighboring cities or from Moscow. You can get to the departure point yourself: by bus, train or plane. Pobeda flies to Moscow from many Russian cities - tickets cost from 1000 rubles. I myself live in the provinces, and fly from Moscow on vacation.

Every situation is different - there is no one solution. Compare prices and decide what is better for you: pay more and fly from your city or save money but spend time traveling to another city.

Look at the examples below. I compared the cost of trips to Cyprus from Moscow and Yekaterinburg. A tour from the capital can be bought much cheaper. If you fly to Moscow on your own, you can save a lot of money.

We are flying on a charter trip to Turkey. We ourselves live in Perm, but in 90% of cases we buy tours and tickets from Moscow - it’s much cheaper, even taking into account the cost of traveling to the capital.

5. Use Smart Search

Our trip to the Dominican Republic last December.

7. Book in advance

Buy a tour in advance or catch last minute? This question is asked by many tourists. Both early booking and last-minute tour purchases provide an opportunity to save money. Each option has its pros and cons.

Early booking . Minus: discounts are usually not as big as when buying last-minute tours. Plus: you can choose any hotel to your taste, relax beautifully and pleasantly. This is a winning option in terms of price and quality.

Last minute tours. Buying a tour at the last minute is often very profitable. Pros: big discounts, sometimes trips are even sold for pennies. There are two minuses. Firstly, there is no guarantee that a cheap last minute tour will appear for your destination on the dates you need. At the last moment, prices can either decrease or jump significantly. This game is quite gambling. The second drawback is that at the height of the season everything best hotels will already be booked, you will have to choose from second-rate options.

Conclusion. If you need a tour anywhere and as cheaply as possible, grab last-minute tours just before departure. If the quality of your vacation is a priority, then buy a tour in advance (optimally - 2-3 months in advance). You will receive both a discount for early booking and a wide selection of hotels.

Everyone can travel a lot and cheaply! Subscribe to my VKontakte group - get inspired and learn a lot of new things. Good luck!

First photo: Fezbot2000 | unsplash.com.

Tour operators, with which it works (in terms of reliability): Coral Travel,TUI, Tez Tour, Sunmar, AnexTour, Pegas Touristik, NTK-Intourist, Biblio Globus, Mouzenidis Travel, PAC group and others.

Cities, with departure from which you can choose a tour: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Ufa, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, Perm, Tyumen and many others.

Holiday destinations: Russia (Sochi, Adler, Crimea, Anapa, etc.), Abkhazia, Cyprus, Greece, Thailand, India, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Tunisia, Vietnam, Israel and many others.

Inexpensive holiday And good impressions from a trip - the dream of any traveler. However, it can be difficult to decide whether to go to independent travel or buy a tour from a tour operator? Specialists from the travel price comparison service Travelata.ru, which sells tours to 60 countries, have revealed the secrets of how to organize an inexpensive vacation and save money during your vacation.

Many “experienced” tourists are confident that there is nothing more economical than traveling independently. However, this is not always the case. Of course, there are destinations where it is easier and cheaper to fly without the help of a tour operator, and there are countries where going on your own is more expensive than buying a tour. There are also resorts where it is better to fly to an inexpensive hotel on your own, and to a high-class hotel through a tour operator, since the discount can be up to 100% of the cost of air tickets. In other words, the flight is a gift.

Here are the destinations where a tour will in most cases be cheaper than traveling on your own. In summer, these are the Russian and Abkhazian coasts of the Black Sea, Turkey, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, the UAE, and other countries. In winter, relatively cheap tours can be found in Goa, although sometimes they are even found in the Maldives. It’s another matter if you are going to Goa for several months: then, of course, purchasing a tour is unlikely to be profitable for you.

Buy a tour or travel on your own?

What to do so as not to make a mistake? First, you should understand the sites that offer hotels, flights and tours. There are services that allow you to buy air tickets online on regular airlines. There are also websites that allow you to book hotels or apartments. And finally, in the last five years, services have been developing that work with tour operators and sell tours - that is, flights, transfers and accommodation. They allow you to find the optimal tour with the lowest cost and book it.

Experienced travelers first look at the price of air tickets, then find a suitable hotel, and then look for a tour in the same direction. This way you can compare prices for holidays in the chosen place and understand how it is more profitable and convenient to fly - on your own or by purchasing a tour.

You need to compare everything: it is possible that you found inexpensive air tickets, good accommodation, and the tour turns out to be more expensive than booking a hotel and tickets separately. However, the savings may be questionable if your flight has a connecting flight and your tour charter is direct, and the package includes transfer from the airport to the hotel.

Search for a tour

How to find the cheapest tour? Aggregator sites have a number of tools that allow you to select a tour to suit your parameters. For example, the "Calendar" option shows approximate prices for tours in different countries on the cheapest day of the month. And you can immediately understand how much a tour will cost for 3 days, a week, 11 nights, etc., for example, to Greece or. The low price chart also helps you save money.

And when selecting options, you can set “floating” parameters: for example, the duration of the trip is from 7 to 11 nights, and the departure date can be set within, say, 6 days. The system will provide the user with all offers from tour operators for this period.

But is it necessary to look for the cheapest tour? It will bring pleasure on rare occasions, especially if you are planning a vacation with children. Therefore, professionals recommend looking at prices first for 5-star hotels, then 4 stars, and only then -3. Pricing for tours has its own characteristics, and sometimes miracles happen, for example, “five stars” are offered for the price of “three rubles”. Or “fours” turn out to be more expensive than “fives”.

Aggregator sites also provide the opportunity to subscribe to receive best deals by email or a signal that the price of a particular tour has decreased.

Once you have finally decided, the tour needs to be booked. Advantageous offers are quickly sold out, so finding a tour on the Internet and booking through your agent is unlikely to be possible.

In addition, self-booking using a bank card also offers the opportunity to save money. Some commercial banks provide so-called cashback for the purchase of tours - a refund of part of the amount spent. Some promotions suggest that you can save up to 7% of the tour cost. Considering that good tour for a family of four people can cost more than 100,000 rubles, the savings will be impressive.

Last minute tours or early booking?

There is a myth that the cheapest way to fly abroad is to catch a so-called last-minute tour. However, long gone are the days when such tours were sold below cost. Nowadays, catching a good last minute deal is like finding a gold prospector. And you can only book this option online, because it won’t be on sale for long.

Most “last minute tours” imply not the best hotels or some conditions that are not suitable for everyone, for example, distance from the sea. Moreover, tourists should be free enough to choose dates to book a tour a couple of days before departure.

As a rule, holders of an open Schengen visa manage to “catch” such tours: the price drops three to five days before departure, when the consulate stops accepting passports because they simply do not have time to issue a visa. Last year many such tours were offered to Greece. But in visa-free countries prices for tours fall extremely rarely.

But many tourists have already realized that they can save on the so-called early booking, when tours are purchased for the summer in early spring or late winter. The ideal option for an inexpensive vacation is to purchase a tour in advance for the very beginning or end of the season. During this period, you can spend a vacation in a luxury hotel for the price of three rubles, and if the sea has not yet warmed up, swim in a heated pool. So, now you can look at tours for autumn and winter.

Cheap dates

It is most profitable to buy tours on dates with low demand. For all resorts the best prices are offered in early December and immediately after the January holidays. During this period, few people dare to take a vacation - and this is exactly where you can save money. In Asia nice prices can be found at the turn of the seasons, when the rains end and the dry period begins, that is, around October. Tours to United Arab Emirates It’s also cheaper either in August, when it’s hot, or in winter, when it gets quite cool.

A very convenient period for traveling to Greece, Turkey and Cyprus is the second half of May, immediately after the holidays. The sun is already warming well, although the sea in the Mediterranean resorts is still cool. Prices during this period are significantly reduced and begin to rise in the first days of June.

How else can you save on travel?

It is most economical to travel as a couple, since when you stay in a standard room alone, you overpay up to 80% of its cost. Tour operators also often offer profitable promotions at the suggestion of hoteliers. For example, a family room with three beds without additional payment for a child. Moreover, it is beneficial to stay in the same hotel, if, of course, it suits you. Then hoteliers can give a compliment in the form of a fruit bowl or offer an upgraded room at no extra charge.

It happens that the cost of a visa matters, especially if a large family is flying on vacation. The consular fee for any Schengen country costs the same, but tour operators charge more money for a visa to France and less for a visa to Greece.

When going abroad, open a foreign currency account for yourself. bank card in euros or dollars, depending on where you are traveling. The fact is that if you withdraw money abroad from a ruble account, the amount is first converted into euros or dollars, and only then into the currency of your location. With a currency card, exchange fees can be avoided.

Think in advance about saving on mobile communications. There are two options for making calls cheaper: you can activate international roaming in Moscow and find out in advance how much a minute of conversation, SMS or Internet use will cost. As a last resort, you can turn off the Internet - the hotel will probably have WiFi. You can also purchase a local SIM card. An iPhone application called Local SIM or a hotel guide will tell you where and how to apply for it.

And one of the main tricks: according to the observations of tourism industry professionals, tour operators set low prices for tours on Wednesdays, and on Friday and Saturday they may increase. Therefore, plan an amusing trip costs in the middle of the week.

Where is it cheaper to go on a tour, and where is it cheaper to book a vacation on your own? On what dates can you get tickets cheaper than a round trip flight? And why are tours no longer mainstream?

It is very difficult to dissuade a person. If we once accepted a certain statement as truth, then try to attack this fact with a portion of healthy argumentation. For example, if one day we decided that independently selecting a trip with booking plane tickets and hotel rooms separately is much more cheaper than buying tour, then all is lost. More precisely, our finances, which could be used more efficiently, will be lost.

Since Russia owns only one Coast, where you can bask - Chernomorsky, our time for swimming is limited to only three months. Only in July, August and September and partly in June does the Black Sea warm up to a comfortable temperature for a full-fledged beach holiday. Yes and ours southern resorts not rubber and often “please” with unpredictable weather. Therefore, “our person” always strives to warm up somewhere, preferably away from home. And definitely - for a reasonable price.

Package tours have been around and popular for many years, especially beach holiday. Regulated by a market economy, they have undergone many changes during their existence - pricing policy, trends, degree of reliability of tour operators. And during this time they have acquired many myths. Here are a few of the most important ones that it's time to stop believing in if you want to have a good rest.

Myth 1 (the most important!)

Tours are always more expensive than independent travel

In fact, the benefits of purchasing in one way or another - with a voucher or with self-booking- depends on the direction. If you want to go to Tunisia on an “all inclusive” basis, then naturally it is better for you to choose a full tour package. If you want to visit wineries in French Provence, it is better to organize such a trip yourself.

However, the assortment is not worth it package tours limited only to Bulgaria, Greece and other top sellers in the summer. Often on a tour you can fly to Spain very profitably and stay with sandy beach Costa del Maresme and visit Barcelona every day, which is half an hour’s drive from the resort.

It happens that at the turn of the seasons or due to a sudden promotion you can buy a tour to Thailand - most often, for the most popular resorts- to Pattaya, Bangkok and the island of Phuket - cheaper than flying. For example, you can fly to Phuket on Qatar Airlines with a transfer in Doha. The quality of the airlines will be a plus here - comfortable seats, good food, TV, and the downside is a flight of up to 18 hours. At the beginning of June, the price of a flight with transfers costs 26,000 rubles, a direct Aeroflot flight costs 28,000 rubles (the journey takes 10 hours), and you can buy the entire tour with a direct charter flight, 10 nights’ accommodation, transfer, insurance and breakfast at the hotel for 25,000 per person (based on double occupancy). An example is the 3-star Tuana M Narina Hotel in Patong.It is not even necessary to live in the chosen hotel - you can move to any other place on the spot (you will only have to return to the hotel for the transfer).

Myth 2

Tours are boring for retirees too

Any tour can always be customized to suit you. For example, go to Ayia Napa, rent a car and drive around the island. No rights? Sign up for any excursions or meet the locals, and they will give you a tour of the territories that you cannot even imagine. And in the evening, have fun at discos, meet tourists from all over the world, and practice English.

Pensioners sit in the hotel and go down to the beach. You can arrange any adventures for yourself, and no guide limits you in this. In addition, the price of the tour in the vast majority of cases is a really decisive factor. Even if the entire hotel is filled with old people, this will not stop you from going out on adventures every day. And it doesn’t matter what your friends think if your flight was really cheap and safe.

Myth 3

No guarantees!

Many people believe that in the process of buying a tour and during the vacation itself, you go through many intermediaries, which means no one is responsible if something goes wrong. In fact, everything is different.

For example, a travel agency that works with several tour operators on the same terms, although it is an intermediary, takes responsibility for organizing your vacation. You are guaranteed to receive a visa, as there is an agreement with the consulates. If you have problems at the airport, immediately contact representatives of tour operators on the spot and solve them. If you are late for a flight, they help you find and buy the best cheap ticket on the next flight and contact the hotel, warning about being late. Moreover, if you are not satisfied with the hotel, you are required to be moved to another hotel of a similar category. Independent travel agencies even help you write a claim against the tour operator and demand a refund! To request assistance in organizing a service or compensation for losses, you can always contact your travel agent by direct phone or email.

However, there is always the possibility that the tour operator (not the travel agency) will go bankrupt, and then you will lose everything. To avoid such risks, contact only trusted tour operators that are registered in the public register of tour operators.

When purchasing a plane ticket and booking a hotel room, either the airline or the hotelier is responsible for each item directly. A hotel is unlikely to close, and airlines rarely go bankrupt. If a regular flight is cancelled, you must be transferred to another flight or compensated for the cost of the ticket. And hotels are afraid of negative reviews and do everything possible to ensure that you are satisfied with your vacation. In addition, they take great care of those clients who book rooms directly.

Why is it so cheap?

Tourists often miss profitable tours, because they don’t believe that they are really that cheap. They expect surcharges and other fees and do not even try to purchase this tour. Well, who will believe that after May holidays could you fly to Greece for 7 nights and half board for 18 thousand rubles for two for the entire tour? In fact, there is always a rational explanation for such cheapness.

Tour operators buy tickets for regular and charter flights across popular destinations m in advance, planning the whole season. That is, they have every right to significantly reduce ticket prices if they were not sold out before departure. There are no last-minute offers on scheduled flights that you purchase yourself. If the plane is not full, any seat will be sold at a pre-fixed price. But there may be airline promotions that need to be closely monitored.

In addition, tour operators often organize promotions for certain destinations with discounts of up to 50-60% - when there is an urgent need to sell tours to this resort according to the tour operator’s internal plan. Typically, such a promotion lasts no more than 3 days - it is convenient to follow the offers on the social networks of a travel agency you trust and not miss a profitable offer.

It is also always profitable to travel immediately after the holidays - when Russian tourists return from vacation, and the resorts are empty and the planes are not full. For example, towards the end of the January or May holidays. And also with a return date that coincides with the beginning of the holidays - for example, in the last week of April with a return on May 1.

As for the aforementioned Greece, the offer was so cheap (up to 70% discount!), since the flight was planned 5-7 days after the purchase. During this time you would not have time to obtain a visa. But if you already have Schengen, you can always travel to European resorts on very last minute tours - buying a tour a few days before the departure date.

There is also a system called “Early Booking”. Using it you can save up to 40% on the purchase of a tour to a specific hotel (usually a very popular one). The main principle is the purchase of the tour or its partial payment with arrival during the peak period (summer or New Year), but always in advance - several months in advance. It is important for hoteliers to know how many tourists will check in, and it is convenient to receive money as early as possible.

When traveling on your own, it is always beneficial to buy a plane ticket six months in advance, or more precisely at least 29 weeks before the departure date. Moreover, in European countries they often run promotions, especially if you are flying for only 2-3 nights. And there is no point in buying a tour.

So what are the pros and cons?

And a few more points to compare and make the right decision for this summer:

Vacation by tour

Fast, easy: no need to look for anything yourself

Constant Russian-language support for your travel agent

Visa support

Possibility to fly on last minute offers

The tour includes everything you need: flight (charter or regular), hotel accommodation, meals, transfer, insurance, support of a Russian-speaking guide

Individual support of a travel agent at the stage of selecting a tour - extensive experience, knowledge of hotels and tourist reviews, to advise or dissuade

The tour operator may go bankrupt and you will not get your money back

It is not profitable to buy a tour to unpopular destinations

Often used charter flights with poor food and uncomfortable chairs

The travel agency must provide you with freevisa support. This service is required for self-registration visas. As a rule, documents for a tour - voucher, insurance and air tickets - are sent to the tourist a few days before departure. When applying for a visa, the travel agency will advise you on what documents will be required to obtain a visa, and will also send you a full package of documents confirming that you have booked the tour.

Self-guided tours:

Absolute freedom in organizing your holiday - happiness for introverts!

If you are planning your vacation in advance, then it is much cheaper to buy plane tickets 29 weeks before departure (according to the Skyscanner service).

Independence from other group members (in transfers or on excursions)

Many airline and hotel websites are in English

No transfer and insurance

Good command required English language, sometimes not only English (for example, in China a very small part of the population speaks English)

In total, it is always cheaper to buy a tour for popular destinations, especially a last-minute offer. And this cheapness often covers all the possible disadvantages of a holiday package. And for some, even the search itself becomes the beginning of a vacation adventure - many are even ready to overpay, but organize their vacation completely on their own! Remember all the pros and cons that we have told you about in this article and make the right decision! 😉

Travel expenses depend not only on the time of year, weather, significant events, etc. How much you spend on your vacation also depends on the destination and whether you buy a tour package or book the hotel and air tickets yourself. AiF.ru compared prices for countries popular among our travelers and found out where it is more profitable to go on a tour, and where it is more “savage”.

Türkiye

The absolute leader in the number of Russian holidaymakers is Türkiye. Last year, according to local Ministry tourism, the resorts of the republic were visited by 4.5 million of our fellow citizens.

Now you can get a last-minute trip to Turkey for 26 thousand rubles, but to make the experiment fair, we compared (here and in other examples) travel prices in September - experts recommend buying tickets, tours, and booking hotels exactly three months before the trip.

A week in a four-star hotel in Marmaris will cost 69,400 rubles for two ( all inclusive, 150 meters to the beach, direct flight, transfer, insurance).

A hotel of the same category at the same resort, if booked independently, will cost 36,100 rubles. Plus air tickets for 17,350 rubles (34,700 rubles for two). Total - 70,800 rubles. Add to this two or three thousand for transfer and medical insurance. It still turns out to be slightly more expensive than a ticket.

Greece

In Greece, all inclusive is not as common as in Turkey, but in local restaurants and the taverns of Hellas feed no worse than in hotels. Therefore, we chose tours (and hotels) with breakfast included. A trip to the island of Crete, for seven days with accommodation in a two-star hotel, costs 43,600 rubles for two. Hotel 400 meters from the beach.

A similar hotel if booked independently will cost 15,500 rubles. Flights from Moscow to Crete and back - 44,272 rubles for two. In total - 60,772 rubles. It turns out that it is more profitable to buy a ticket to Greece.

Montenegro

By the way, to travel to Greece you need a Schengen visa. And if you don’t have it, then these are additional costs. And you don’t need a visa for Montenegro. The cheapest trip to this country with a departure in September, which AiF.ru managed to find, is offered for 50,400 rubles for two. For this money - a week in a two-star hotel in Budva, without meals. The beach is 800 meters away.

Now let's look at accommodation when booking independently. A week in a hotel - 10,340 rubles. Tickets from Moscow and back - 34,196 rubles for two. Total - 44536 rubles. Almost 6,000 rubles cheaper than a voucher.

Czech

It is also cheaper to travel to the Czech Republic on your own. A week-long trip if booked independently will cost 35,000 rubles for two. The price includes a flight on the Moscow-Prague-Moscow route (20,680 rubles for two) and accommodation in a three-star hotel four kilometers from the center of the Czech capital (14,370 rubles), as well as breakfast.

A trip to the same dates and to a hotel of the same category will cost at least 43,200 rubles. The difference is 8150 rubles.

France

A trip to Paris costs 75,460 rubles for two - direct flight, accommodation in a two-star hotel located 2 kilometers from the city center, plus breakfast.

And this is what the costs look like when organizing a trip to Paris on your own: 28,706 rubles for air tickets for two (14,353 rubles for one) and 39,583 rubles for accommodation in the same hotel as on the tour package. Total 68289 rubles. Traveling to Paris under your own power is more than seven thousand rubles more profitable.

Bulgaria

It is now almost twice as cheap to plan a vacation in Bulgaria on your own - it will cost 23,768 rubles (17,068 rubles for air tickets to Varna and back for two, and 7,700 rubles for seven nights in a two-star hotel).

But a ticket to the same resort can be bought for 40,149 rubles for two.

Thailand

But air tickets to Thailand alone are more expensive than a trip - 60,556 rubles for two, and not direct, but with a transfer in Doha. Plus a minimum of 6,500 rubles for Double Room in a three-star hotel located in Pattaya. Total expenses are 67,056 rubles for two.

Vouchers to the same resort in similar hotels are currently offered for 50,300 rubles. Besides direct flight This price includes transfer and medical insurance.

Spain

With a package tour to the Spanish resort of Costa Brava, you can relax for 56,500 rubles for two. For this money - a two-star hotel with good reviews, located 300 meters from the beach, but without meals.

If you book on your own, the trip will cost 41,840 rubles, where 26,840 rubles are air tickets for two and 15,000 rubles are a week’s hotel accommodation.

Perhaps everyone modern travelers can be roughly divided into two categories - those who go to unknown destinations with the help of travel companies and those who organize their trip from start to finish on their own.

Recently, there are more and more people traveling without intermediaries - both in the world and in Russia in particular. It's obvious that independent tourism became widespread thanks to the development of the Internet and electronic technologies, which do not even require, say, personal presence when purchasing air tickets.

Maximum simplification of paperwork, hotel reservations, and purchasing tickets for all kinds of transport allowed people to expand the boundaries of choice. And if previously a person had to go to a travel agency to find out absolutely all the questions about the upcoming trip, now we just need to enter any query into the search bar on the Internet and get a comprehensive amount of information.

Interestingly, according to some data, they themselves employees of a number of travel companies are already talking about the fact that their business is on the verge of extinction. Of course, travel companies will not be able to completely disappear - lazy, rich and elderly people will always crave the caring “hand” of a tour operator, but companies are beginning to feel problems with “passenger flow” more and more often and more clearly. After all, it is mostly young people who are turning away from them - they are not afraid of anything and know perfectly well how to find cheap air tickets, how to book the most suitable hotel rooms, how to apply for a visa and how to see the maximum of attractions with a minimum of financial costs.

In this material, we will not debunk the uselessness of travel agents and praise independent travelers, if only because both the first and second cases have both their obvious advantages and disadvantages that are not so noticeable at first glance.

Here we will talk about how to travel cheaper - through a travel agency or on your own, which country is better to go through a tour operator, and which one you can go on your own, and we will also look at an example - how to organize a trip yourself according to a similar offer from a travel agency, at what time it will cost - what will be its advantages and disadvantages.

Let's start with the fact that the choice of organizing an upcoming trip depends on a number of circumstances and factors. This includes primarily travel dates, choice of dates and days for flight or relocation, financial capabilities of tourists, direction - that is, the country they have chosen for their vacation, as well as personal wishes regarding the level of the hotel, its location, and so on.

As practice shows, travel companies are usually approached by people who do not want or do not have enough time to independently organize a trip, citizens who have problems with a foreign language and need the constant accompaniment of a guide, as well as those who are “greedy” for last-minute tours, that is vouchers that can be bought, roughly speaking, a day before departure at a super-low price.

As a rule, people who travel to foreign countries on their own are people who speak fluent English, who know how to independently organize the best leisure time and conditions for their stay in a foreign country, who are not afraid to independently purchase air tickets, resolve visa issues, and so on, as well as those who do not want to relax according to the template set by the travel company.

Now let’s look at the example of specific countries where it is still easier for our fellow citizens to travel through travel companies, and where it is more profitable to travel on their own.

All statistics show that the most popular tourist destinations for Russians are Turkey, Egypt, Greece, China, Thailand, India and Spain. The sample of these countries is naturally supplemented year by year by others, but even among those given here it is clear that Mostly in demand are European countries or countries of Southeast Asia. Neither Latin nor North America, neither Australia, nor Central and South Africa You won’t find it in this top.

The attraction to Europe among our compatriots is most often explained by the close proximity of countries, their rich history and a wealth of attractions smoothly interspersed with a favorable Mediterranean climate. As for Asia, Russians are most often drawn there by a thirst to get acquainted with the exotic, expand spiritual knowledge, and are also attracted by the cheapness of Asian life. However, first things first.

Where is the best place to go on a trip?

To begin with, let’s take such popular destinations among Russians as Türkiye and Egypt. As a rule, these countries attract compatriots due to their territorial proximity to Russia, resorts with access to the sea, warm climate and developed tourism infrastructure. Both countries, due to their popularity, are in good standing with Russian travel companies. That is why you can easily spend a week in Egyptian Hurghada or Turkish Antalya with the help of a tour operator for 14-16 thousand rubles, with flights, mandatory all-inclusive meals and drinks, in at least a 4-star hotel with a swimming pool and a water park on site.

Otherwise, the choice is up to the tourists themselves - to stay in the hotel for all 7 days, relaxing and basking in the sun, or to combine passive relaxation with active trips to sights for an additional price. For example, at the hotel itself you can easily take an excursion and go on a real safari or to the ancient mysterious pyramids.

As practice shows, It is better and cheaper to travel to the countries in question on a package tour. Independent trip for round-trip tickets alone it will cost the traveler the price of the entire trip from the tour operator. And if you add accommodation, food and entertainment to this, then you will need to overpay at least twice.

Of course, if you really want to, you can go to Turkey or Egypt on your own. However, if you choose a beach holiday, then it makes sense to overpay for it, using an individual hotel search and good conditions there is practically none in them.

It is known that destinations such as Thailand, China and India have also recently been widely explored by travel companies and, accordingly, by flows of Russian citizens. At first glance, these countries are also easier, safer and more appropriate to visit on tours offered by operators. However, it immediately becomes obvious that flying to, say, sunny Thailand is several times more expensive than plunging into warm seas Turkey.

Typically, travel agencies' offers for vacations in Southeast Asia for two are replete with amounts almost reaching 100 thousand rubles for a week's vacation, and this is definitely not there is talk about no allinclusive. Sometimes, of course, companies “throw away” unsold trips and Internet surfers, thirsty for wandering, snag a discounted trip for 30-40 thousand, which, you see, is noticeably cheaper than 100, but still more expensive than Turkish “baklava”.

Which countries are cheaper to travel to on your own?

And here, tour operators are replaced by free travelers, those who are meticulously ready to tell you that it is best to travel around Asia on your own.

Firstly, it is important to understand that such resorts in Thailand as Pattaya and Phuket (the most popular among tour operators and, accordingly, tourists) are becoming prohibitively expensive every year, not without the help of our compatriots. Secondly, even in these expensive places in Thailand independent wanderers find budget options and food and accommodation than what the operators offer.

For example, in the “kingdom of smiles” it is not necessary to rent a 4-star hotel with free breakfast at a fabulous price from a travel agency. If you search on your own, you can easily find hotels or guest houses on the same Booking that are two or even three times cheaper, with conditions practically no different from a 4-star hotel.

As for air travel, if you plan your trip in advance, say, three months in advance, you can buy the cheapest tickets, and sometimes even direct ones. Sometimes independent travelers I manage to snag round-trip tickets for $500-550. And if we add in rental housing, on average 500-600 rubles per room per day in a decent guest house, and daily meals for the same amount, then housing plus food will cost a maximum of 8 thousand rubles for one or 12-15 thousand for two.

At the same time, you will not be constrained by the schedule set by the travel company, you will be free to change your location in accordance with your preferences and budget, and you will also be able to easily travel around memorable places countries without the help of guides and groups hanging around behind him. To implement the last point, it will be enough to arm yourself with a map of the area and a smile, You won’t even be required to have a high level of knowledge of the English language.

If we talk about a trip to India on a tour, then it’s definitely worth saying that the benefit of such a trip will only be that the organizer will in some sense be responsible for you - for the round-trip flight, hotel check-in and something food. For the rest, you need to know that vacations in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and, say, Vietnam are best planned independently, since such factors as housing, food and hotel location are, firstly, a priority to determine on the spot , and secondly, all this in conditions local market will cost you several times cheaper than what the tour operator will offer.

Thus, in many respects, the countries of Southeast Asia will be cheaper and more interesting to visit on your own. Even though the flight to this far from central Russia edge takes a lot of time and costs an order of magnitude more expensive than the road to a clean and civilized Europe.

What about Europe?

As for Europe, opinions on whether it is more profitable to travel on your own or through a travel agency are in each case ambiguous. In fact, it is impossible to generalize about European countries that they are all equally expensive, for example, as about Asian countries, we confidently assure that all these countries are approximately equally cheap.

The paradox of Europe is often that it is quite cheap to fly there from Moscow or St. Petersburg, but in the Schengen territory itself everything is not so accessible to our tourists. Let’s say that many travelers, whether on a tour or on their own, who went to Paris, note the high cost of the French capital, the impossibility of idly drinking coffee in the morning in coffee shops and affording lunch and dinner in cafes every day. About Norway and Denmark, in general, you only hear exclamations about incredible prices for everything, and not at all stories about the fjords.

However, our tourist still does not ignore old Europe, despite all its pretentiousness and high cost. There are also corners here that attract streams of Russians year after year. For example, Spain, Bulgaria or Czech Republic.

Traveling to these countries in most cases will be cheaper if you plan it yourself. Unless you want to visit one of the designated countries, and not several in a week on a bus tour.

For example, On average, you can go to Czech Karlovy Vary with a tourist package for 1000-1500 euros for 7 days, this amount includes flights, as well as accommodation in a 4-star hotel with daily breakfast.

If you organize the trip yourself, then there is a chance to cut costs in half, that is, for 500-500 euros. All that is required for this is a plane directly to the capital of the Czech Republic - Prague for an average of 120 euros for both tickets, from where you then need to go on your own to Karlovy Vary for about 50-60 euros one way, to a pre-booked hotel of your choice for 240 euros for 7 days.

As for countries such as Spain, Italy, France or Greece, it may be slightly, but still cheaper to travel independently. Among the advantages of such a vacation will be absolute freedom in movement and plans, among the disadvantages is the complete organization of the trip - from independently obtaining visas to finding the best and inexpensive hotel in an unfamiliar country.

By the way, it’s time to tell you about all the delights of independent and organized travel by intermediaries. After all, in the end, a tourist must clearly see the difference between the first and second in order to choose for himself the most optimal plan for spending a vacation or another part of his life in a foreign country.

First, let's look at the points advantages of traveling abroad through tour operators:

Minimum time spent on planning and organizing the upcoming trip, purchasing a full package of services in a short time.
Directly at the time of your vacation, you will not need to worry about booking a hotel, meals or visiting attractions.
The tour operator or his representative on the tour will answer any questions.
If you do not speak English, no problem, the tour will be organized using Russian speaking guides, hotels will greet you with speech in their native language; you will practically not have to communicate in broken English.
Organized excursions will take place in a schedule and speed set by the guides; tourists will have no time to think about anything unnecessary. All decisions for travelers will be made at the moment when they pay for the trip with a travel agency in their home country.

As you can see, the trip through travel company It may be pleasant for those who are not ready to deal with some everyday problems during their vacation, as well as for those who like a clear routine set by someone. In addition, the services of a tour operator will be gladly used by people who are busy in everyday life, wealthy compatriots and other categories of people who, for some reason, do not want to plan their own vacation.

However, let's also see What are the advantages of individual travelers:

The ability to adjust the travel route, both before the trip and during the trip itself.
The ability to independently choose the most suitable level of hotel, food, and modes of transportation for yourself.
The chance to purchase air tickets in advance at a discounted low price and the ability to change the date of departure or arrival, as well as an independent tourist always has the right, if necessary, to return the ticket by paying the airline a minimal fine. For example, it is a priori impossible to refuse a travel agency tour without significant damage to your wallet.
A free traveler is completely left to his own devices, so he can look at the sights as much as he likes, change the route at will, return to places he likes, or explore new ones more intensively. One can only dream of such freedom in organized tours.
Organizing your own trip with a careful approach will often cost an order of magnitude cheaper than a tourist trip.
In addition, by making a travel plan individually, a tourist, as a rule, truly penetrates into the culture of an unknown country, expands his horizons, lives his journey from the very beginning to the very end consciously, independently, freely.

Usually young people go on trips on their own, do not have money for organized tours and do not want to follow some kind of guide, to be limited in their actions and aspirations. Also, individual trips are a priority for people who have been abroad more than once and have had their fill of organized tours and are hungry for real adventure.

Among independent tourists you can also meet middle-aged and even elderly people. As a rule, these are people who have not lost interest in life, who strive to become more fully acquainted with the local flavor of the countries they are traveling to, and who also understand the value of their time and the fact that no one can organize a good trip for them better than themselves.

In principle, choosing which way is better or cheaper to travel to distant countries is a personal matter for everyone. Because for some people the thought of organizing a trip abroad on their own will seem like a nightmare, while for others it will give them a “second wind” and be incredibly inspiring.

Finally, I would like to give you an example of how you can organize your trip cheaper than using the services of a travel agency, even taking into account the fact that you are planning the purchase of tickets and the entire trip in a short time.

We will choose sunny and distant Thailand as our destination. A trip to famous island Phuket, so beloved by Russian tourists, is sold for two by the first travel agency that came up in the search for 76,737 rubles. This price includes airfare, accommodation in a 4-star hotel for 6 nights from May 9 to 15, free breakfast, insurance and transfer.

But let's see how much this trip will cost us if we organize it independently. Turning to the first low-cost airline you come across (sites selling air tickets with discounts, cheaper than airlines directly), it turns out that flying from St. Petersburg to Phuket and back between there on May 9 and back on the 15th will cost 29,643 rubles per person. That is, two tickets will cost 59,286 rubles, including fuel surcharges.

We go to booking and find the right hotel 4 stars. The price for a double superior room with taxes and breakfast included is 168 euros for 6 nights. We convert them into rubles at the current rate and get 8370 rubles.

To summarize, tickets plus accommodation without a voucher on our own will cost us 67,656 rubles.

That is If you organize it yourself, you can save up to 10 thousand rubles! For some, of course, this is not money, but for some categories of citizens such a difference will seem noticeable. In addition, it can be significantly increased if, say, you stay not in a designated hotel, but in a guest house with the same pleasant and cozy rooms, but without breakfast included in the price. It’s quite easy to find a decent guest house in Phuket with overnight accommodation for 600 rubles for two, which will ultimately be half the price of a hotel.

However, even when traveling on your own, not everything is as rosy as it might seem. Naturally, saving sometimes requires some sacrifices, for example, time. Unfortunately, I do not have information about what kind of flight the travel agency offers to Thailand from Russia - is it direct or with transfers. But most often they try to organize such tours with direct travel. Meanwhile, when planning on your own, tickets are usually cheaper due to the fact that you fly with transfers, perhaps even on different airlines.

In our example you can see this. The flight to Phuket will have two transfers and on average will take 20 hours in both directions. As you can see, you will have to sacrifice several hours of restful sleep in order to save on travel. Therefore, choosing the best way to go on vacation is, I repeat, a personal matter for everyone.

Don’t forget that when organizing a trip on your own, a lot depends on how far in advance you started planning your trip; as a rule, the earlier the tickets are purchased, the cheaper they are. In our example, the deadlines are really quite tight, and the dates chosen are not the best in terms of cost, so the difference in price between the tour operator’s offer and an independent trip may not seem too noticeable. But even with such an organization it is obvious, which means that In any case, traveling to Thailand on your own will be cheaper than going through a company.

To summarize, I would like to say that, naturally, there is no consensus on how best to travel around the world. Each person has his own needs, his own comfort zone and his own financial capabilities. As for how cheaper it will be to travel abroad, I think that within the framework of the article I was able to show you that there are certain trends based on which you can plan your trip and know which country is better to go to on your own, and which through a tour operator .