Package tours: planning, selection, organization and offer. What is a package tour? What to do if there is an error in documents, for example, on an air ticket

Let's study in detail the "composition" of a package tour, pay attention to the characteristics of the "fine print" and analyze such nuances as: types of food in hotels, types of flights, and the main question - is flight always included in the tour?

In order not to get confused in the multitude of offers and to make the best purchase, we usually use these services for selecting and booking tours from all tour operators:

When making a purchase, many people have a question: what is included in the price of the tour? Different tour operators have different services. What should you pay attention to first when buying, for example, a package tour from Moscow?

Air travel

It would seem logical that the tour includes a flight. But no, more than once we ourselves came across options with an attractively low price tag, and upon closer examination, a not very noticeable footnote was revealed that we would have to get there on our own.

In principle, this practice does exist - a tour without a flight - but with reliable tour operators such offers are made separately, and certainly not sent by email in an attempt to lure the client (as is the case with dubious travel agency intermediaries).

To secure your future vacation, look for tours directly from tour operators. And so that safety comes with a good price as a bonus, search on special online search engines - and - here are offers from all trusted tour operators. Conditions of constant competition (and the services cooperate with 120 proven companies) contribute to the appearance of very interesting prices 🙂 Everything is fair: both the flight and the tour are included in the price.

Accommodation

The package price, of course, includes accommodation. To make it easier to find a trip that is ideal in all respects, you should decide in advance which apartment will serve as your home during your vacation.

Advice: use the filter function in online search engines: immediately sort the options by the star level of the hotel or the number of meters to the beach! Personally, we try to choose 3-star hotels everywhere.

Nutrition

A package tour may consist of various meal offers. If you are a gourmet who wants to visit all the cafes and restaurants in the city, or a fan of walking and long excursions, then you can stop at “breakfasts”. Well, for those who want not to worry about food, but to enjoy relaxing on the beach, an all-inclusive service is provided. Such tours are often found in Turkey, Greece, etc.

Insurance

Tour operator insurance, first of all, implies medical travel insurance for the period of the trip. This entitles the traveler to medical care abroad in the event of an emergency. Its cost is automatically included in the total price of the tour and depends directly on the country of stay, duration of the trip, number of risks and sum insured.

Beyond the basic set, there is travel insurance, which allows you to return part of the money spent, if necessary. There is also insurance against bankruptcy of the tour operator. In this case, your expenses for an unfulfilled vacation will be covered by the insurance company. But there’s really no point in taking them; in our opinion, it’s a waste of money.

What is an all-inclusive tour?

Almost all tour operators offer an all-inclusive tour service. By purchasing this program, you can enjoy your vacation absolutely free. Of course, this is meant figuratively, because free cheese only comes in a mousetrap. In other words, you pay for the hotel services provided once.

However, you should find out in advance what is included in the all-inclusive tour, since there are no standards in this regard, everyone draws up their own list of services. When buying a “pig in a poke”, tourists are in for unpleasant surprises, and all because they bought the ticket without asking what was included in the ticket. Most often this service is booked in Turkey, since it is more affordable in price.

In most cases, the tour package includes: meals, swimming pool, sauna, beach, rental of sun loungers and umbrellas, animation programs, entertainment area, etc. Excursions, diving lessons and other active recreational activities are not included in the price of the tour. It is worth noting that the larger the hotel, the larger the list of services included in the tour.

Benefits of package tours

Package tours from tour operators have many advantages:

Convenience – the program includes basic services, which means you don’t have to independently study the air ticket sales market, book a room, order a transfer, etc.

Safety – thanks to insurance and the invisible presence of an “organizational hand”, a tourist feels confident in a foreign country, and no matter what end of the map it is located.

Savings - booking hotels and air tickets on your own often costs more than buying a ready-made tour. Especially in such countries of mass beach holidays as Turkey, Thailand, Spain, Greece. Therefore, package tours will be a good option for an economical trip.

This can be confirmed by our personal example: we flew to Barcelona 2 times, on a tour and on our own. A ten-day trip for one with hotel accommodation and breakfast cost 23,000 rubles. Traveling on our own, the tickets alone - 12,000 rubles - and the reservation of a hostel (much lower in class, and even without meals and transfer) cost a couple of thousand more.

Conclusion: it is more profitable to purchase a tour package for typical resort countries! To Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, etc.

The price is per person when purchasing a tour for two

What is insurance against travel abroad?

The trip has been paid for, your suitcases are almost packed, and you are looking forward to your dream trip, but suddenly, due to circumstances beyond your control, all your vacation plans collapse like a house of cards. How can I get my money back in this case?

In this case, the tourist will be helped abroad. Typically, a trip is sold without taking this service into account, i.e. the tourist himself decides whether to add it or not.

Insurance against travel abroad is most suitable for those travelers who are planning a vacation in the Schengen countries. Sometimes life brings such surprises, for example, you have already paid for a tour, purchased tickets, booked a hotel, when an agent calls you and announces the sad news that your visa has been denied. Everything will not be so sad if your documents include travel insurance against non-departure. You will be able to partially return the amount of expenses, minus the penalty.

What does travel cancellation insurance include?

Ticket prices
Payment for placement
Visa costs
Payment for tour operator services
Cost of excursions (if included in the tour package)

How much does travel insurance cost?

Insurance from the tour operator in case of no travel must be obtained in advance, approximately two weeks before the departure date. To save additional money, carry out this procedure also directly through tour operators. The price of insurance depends entirely on the cost of the tour, but usually it ranges from 1 to 5% of the price of the tour package.

Transfer from a tour operator - how does it work?

One of the popular services provided by a travel company is transfer. It involves meeting the tourist at the airport and subsequent escort to the hotel and back. There are two types of transfer: group and individual.

By default, the package price includes a group transfer. It offers tourists to get to the hotel on a comfortable bus with a capacity of 20 to 40 people. The advantage is saving your travel budget. The downside is the duration of the move (imagine if you live in that very 40th hotel on the list? :)

For an additional fee, a private transfer will be waiting for you. In this case, the tourist reaches the destination in a car with a capacity of up to 4 people. The advantage is that there is no queue, so you can go straight from the airport to the hotel. The main disadvantage is the high cost of the service, but, as they say, you have to pay for all good things!

Types of food in hotels

All hotels are united by the international food designation system. When purchasing a tourist package, especially on your own, you need to clearly know the meaning of the following abbreviations.

RO (room only)- without food. This type is provided by small hotels, as well as when staying in villas. And it seems like this is savings on a non-budget hotel menu, but if you count how much money is spent on lunches and dinners in cafes, the benefits will clearly be exaggerated.

BB (bed&breakfast)- breakfasts. This type is typical for hotels in Europe and Asia. Very convenient, because... In the morning you can have a thorough breakfast, and, without being tied to the hotel by meal times, spend the day exploring unfamiliar spaces.

HB (half board)– half board. This type of meal involves a combination of breakfast and dinner, or breakfast and lunch. Alcoholic drinks will be provided at an additional cost.

FB (full board)– full board. The price includes breakfast, a nutritious lunch and a hearty dinner. The menu is varied, but the price does not include alcohol.

AI (all inclusive)– good old “all inclusive”. The name speaks for itself: you will receive 5 meals a day and locally produced drinks.

UAI (ultra all inclusive)- “ultra all inclusive”. The same varied food, but with imported alcoholic drinks.

Types of flights

Regular flight from Fly Dubai to the UAE and charter flight from Royal Flight to Greece

For a tour package, airlines offer two types of flights: charter and regular.

Basically, a package tour from a tour operator includes charter flights. The main advantage of this choice is the low cost of the tour, because these flights are seasonal, and you do not overpay for possible empty seats (as on regular flights), because they are completely purchased by tour operators. But the downside is the possibility of the air carrier rescheduling the charter departure time.

Some good advice for those who live in the regions: when purchasing a package tour with a flight from Moscow, do not rush to purchase an air ticket to the capital. Consider all options for changing the date, otherwise your ticket will simply be burned. Take either with a reserve of a day or more from the time of departure or travel by train (in this case, you can always return them).

Regular flights are also found on tour packages. They are carried out regardless of the seasons, according to a schedule. If you prefer only these flights, please indicate when booking your package tour. True, you will have to pay a certain amount, and the trip will cost more. Regular flights are served by more comfortable aircraft, the service is higher, the food is better, etc.

We usually search for and buy regular flights through Skyscanner or Aviasales (it’s convenient to compare prices).

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Manual selection

Click and fill out the form that opens if you want our specialist to select a tour for you. With manual selection batch tours It is possible to take into account more of your wishes for holidays abroad.

Package tours are vacation tours that usually consist of flights, insurance, hotel accommodation, transfers and visa services. Package tours do not include excursions. The figure shows the location of the package tour search module:

Figure No. 3. Country selection

The first parameter you need to select is the country of your intended travel. After this, you are taken to the tour search page, where you can set a large number of parameters. It is advisable to provide as much information as possible to find an offer that suits you. All fields in the form are optional and can be filled out in any order. When you select one of the options, the other options automatically change depending on the selected option. For example, since the Nuweiba resort in Egypt only offers tours to 4* and 5* hotels, only 4* and 5* categories are shown in hotel categories.

Figure No. 4. Selecting package tour options

1 Country selection

Description of the selected country (currency and politics, time, climate, attractions, history, language, cuisine, geography, population, religion, national holidays, visa and customs regimes, transport, entertainment and other useful information).

2 Photos of the country

Photos of the selected country from the resource RuTraveller. ” RuTraveller”.

3 Selecting a resort

The drop-down menu displays a list of all resorts in the selected country; select the one you are interested in.

Indication of preferred options for hotel categories.

5 Departure date and number of nights

Departure dates mean the period from which date a tourist needs to fly. All tours in the System are calculated based on the number of nights, respectively, days in the tour - one more. If you are interested in a specific number of nights, then you need to put the same value of nights in the drop-down lists “from” and “to” (for example, “7 nights”).

The default is 7 nights.

6 Number of people in the room

This refers to the number of people who will live in one hotel room. It is possible to view prices for a room with children of a certain age.

The default price is for a double room (DBL).

7 Selecting the power type

By analogy with the choice of resorts. E If you check the box “Allincluded» search results will only show tours with these meal types.

The list of abbreviations by food type can be found in the System in the "Help" section or in the section .

8 Maximum price

Please indicate the maximum price you are willing to pay for the tour.You can also choose whether to calculate the maximum price only with the air ticket or display all options in the search results (both with and without the air ticket included).

9 Advanced search

If you need to select tour parameters in more detail, click the "Advanced Search" link. .

10 Search tours

Having specified all the search parameters, you must click the "Search for tours" button, after which you will see a page with tours that match the specified parameters.

11 Country selection

Ability to change the country of search for tours.