How to choose the best tour operator in Russia, to whom you can safely trust your money and a carefree mood?
Based on the rating of Russian tour operators in 2019 from the Travelata aggregator, which has been operating on the market for more than seven years, we compiled a reliability rating for Russian tour operators in 2019. The assessment was based on the following criteria:
- the presence and size of assets (the more the better);
- quality of service;
- the existence of the tour operator on the market (the longer, the more reliable the company);
- the availability of additional services, for example, visa, insurance, hotels;
- customer ratings.
| № | Tour operator | Founded | Directions | Claims | Reliability | General index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coral travel | 1992 | 35 | 1,66% | A ++ | 98/100 |
| 2 | TUI | 1995 | 33 | 1,95% | A + | 98/100 |
| 3 | Tez tour | 1994 | 30 | 1,07% | A ++ | 92/100 |
| 4 | Sunmar | 1995 | 23 | 4,12% | A ++ | 90/100 |
| 5 | Anextour | 1996 | 32 | 7,25% | A + | 90/100 |
| 6 | Pegas touristik | 1994 | 22 | 5,62% | A ++ | 88/100 |
| 7 | NTK-Intourist | 1929 | 23 | 7,14% | A ++ | 88/100 |
| 8 | Biblio globus | 1994 | 53 | 4,9% | A ++ | 86/100 |
| 9 | Mouzenidis travel | 1995 | 8 | 2,37% | B | 86/100 |
| 10 | ICS Travel Group | 1992 | 62 | 4,17% | A ++ | 82/100 |
10 best tour operators of Russia 2019
10. ICS Travel Group
The company, which opens the list of leading Russian tour operators in 2019, has been operating in the tourism market for 27 years.
Here you can order tours to 30 countries. In addition to the traditional “beach” destination for Russia, this includes the countries of Western Europe, South-West Asia, Latin America, as well as the near abroad - countries of the former USSR.
9. Mouzenidis Travel
This company specializes mainly in tours to Greece. For more than 20 years, she has been carrying our compatriots to the warm shores of the Mediterranean Sea, to the friendly descendants of the Hellenes.
But not Greece alone boasts Mouzenidis Travel. Over the past few years, the tour operator has somewhat expanded the list of destinations, including Western Europe, as well as two countries of the former Soviet Union - Georgia and Armenia.
In addition to tourism from Russia, Mouzenidis Travel expands tourism services to Russia. After all, some Greeks are as bored by the sun as snow is to us.
8. Biblio-Globus
Until the beginning of 2000, the Biblio-Globe existed somewhere in the back of the tourist world. However, the company is slowly but surely developing and today it has become one of the largest players in its industry. It was this tour operator for a long time leading in the Cyprus direction, and now there are more than 50 countries in its assets.
In addition, Biblio-Globus was the first in Russia to make the selection of tours dynamic. That is, the program for selecting a tour in real time changes the price depending on the cost of air tickets, hotels, demand for destinations and so on.
7. VAO Intourist
The old horse does not spoil the furrow, and in the case of Intourist this horse is not just old, but superstar. Intourist was founded in 1929 and in Soviet times was the country's most important tour operator.
After the reorganization of 1990, the affairs of Intourist shook a little, but after entering into a partnership with the English company Thomas Cook, they began to recover.
The company specializes in tourism, not only from Russia, but also to it. Currently, it holds a tenth of the inbound tourism market. It is interesting that Russia enjoys the greatest popularity among the Chinese, Indians, and Iranians. And the residents of Russia who want to relax abroad can find at Intourist advantageous offers both in Europe, and in South-West Asia, and also in Latin America.
6. Pegas Touristik
Like many other popular Russian tour operators, the company began with Turkey and Egypt. However, after the recent sad events in these countries, she decided to change orientation and began to actively explore the countries of South-West Asia, known for their delicious cuisine and relative cheapness.
Currently, the Pegas Touristik group is consistently included in the top 10 leading Russian tour operators, and has offices throughout the country in 250 cities.
Charter flights of the company depart from more than fifty cities of the Russian Federation. The directions of the tour operator are traditional, beach - from Greece, Turkey and Spain to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Mexico.
5. ANEX Tour
A significant advantage of ANEX Tour compared to other tour operators is low prices. True, the most advantageous offers have to be constantly monitored, because the competition for them is very great.
Directions at ANEX Tour are very different, however, regardless of the destination country, tourists note the high quality of the services provided. And at the end of December last year, ANEX Tour bought the Kremlin. But not the one in the center of Moscow, but the Kremlin Palace - its imitation in one of the best resorts in Turkey, Antalya. So far, the hotel has been updated in accordance with the wishes of the new owner, and tourists will be able to visit the island of Mother Russia abroad from April this year.
4. Sunmar
Two years ago, in the summer of 2017, Sunmar, which independently existed on the market for 12 years, passed into the ownership of the first place in the rating - Coral Travel Group. It differs from the parent company primarily in cheapness. Services are provided in batches, there are only two packages, but their price is the same all year round.
Moreover, you can save even more if you can catch a burning tour or, conversely, book a tour in advance. For example, for the summer - in February, and for the winter - in July. Just keep in mind that the total amount of the tour will always be greater, since the fuel surcharge is separate, and it is included in the bill at the last moment. Sunmar Travel can offer some of the best tourist destinations of 2019 - Turkey, Greece, Spain, Thailand, but there are also more exotic ones - for example, India or Morocco.
3. Thesis tour
The third place in the ranking is occupied by a company that for more than twenty-five years has been regularly carrying tourists to rest on the sunny shores of Turkey and Egypt. Tez-Tour once specialized in cheap trips to these two countries, but now it has significantly expanded its scope.
In addition to time-tested beach destinations, companies that are exotic in Russia, such as Mexico and China, began to enter its scope of services. The company is actively exploring the countries of the former USSR, and for 12 consecutive times it has been awarded a gold medal in Belarus for the quality of the services provided.
However, not everything is safe in the kingdom of Tez Tour. It is still unknown how the arrest of the head of the iFly airline affiliated with it will affect the functioning of the company (it was caught in a bribe). The representatives of the tour operator themselves insist that tourists will not notice any difference, and the iFly share in transportation from Tez-tour is supposedly negligible.
2. TUI Group
One of the few foreign players in the Russian tourism market, and one of the largest in the foreign market. TUI Group has focused entirely on the tourism industry relatively recently, and previously engaged in transportation. The company has many hotels around the world, many of which are known to Russian tourists, for example, Turkish FUN & SUN.
In general, the company focuses on holidays in hotels in proven areas where the tourist infrastructure is well developed, whether it is a beach holiday, excursions or extreme tourism. One of the company’s chips is cooperation with world-famous hotel lines, as well as self-developed leisure programs.
1. Coral Travel
The most reliable tour operator in 2019, one of the long-livers of the Russian market, having celebrated for a quarter of a century. The reason for the success of Coral Travel is its strong material base, thanks to which the tour operator has the opportunity not only to offer its customers proven and popular destinations like Greece and Egypt, but also as rare as, for example, the Gambia.
Today Coral Travel can offer destinations in more than 28 countries of the world, and there are representative offices both in the countries of the former USSR and in neighboring Poland. This is one of the few tour operators in the Russian market that has the ability to send its customers on charter flights, and not only from Moscow.
The official website of Rostourism, the rating of tour operators in Russia does not publish, the best rating is one based on reviews from tourists.
Trust tour operators or arrange a vacation yourself
Daria Toropova
Head of the client department of the online service for searching and booking tours Travelata.ru
“Unfortunately, last year the tour operators did not go bankrupt, one of them was quite large, and a considerable number of outbound tourism operators really leave the market annually. As a rule, these are small tour operators with which service aggregators do not work. Nevertheless, tour operators should be trusted.
It makes sense to pay attention to tour operators who have long been working in the market. It is they that allow you to save on vacation, thanks to charter flights and special offers for hotels in mass destinations. In order not to be mistaken, tourists should choose proven large travel agencies that can evaluate the reliability of tour operators.
In general, the regulatory authorities of the Russian Federation are trying to amend the legislation in order to avoid major bankruptcies and loss of money by customers. ”
