Pros of package tours:
Price
Indeed, package tours, offered by agencies, are often cheaper than the tour you organize by yourself. When buying a tour, the price already includes costs of a flight, hotel accommodation, meals (to choose from), transfer, medical insurance and even a couple of basic excursions. At the same time, often just one air flight ticket to the seaside will cost half a price of the whole tour.
In addition, buying a package tour prevents you from any extra spending. So, for the sake of economy, you can spend the whole vacation at the hotel without spending money on food, drinks, travel and rent sun chairs by the sea. Travel agencies also offer to buy so-called "hot" tours – to save your money, but still have a good rest.
Time-saving
Traveling with a travel agency, you can forget about collecting documents and queues for visa processing, finding tickets, searching for best routes, ordering insurance and so on - everything is done by managers.
Comfort
In theory, all the services for a tourist should be of a high level- starting from a warm welcome on arrival, a convenient transfer, pre-purchased tickets to attractions and 24/7 assistance in any matters.
The language barrier
Tourists who do not speak foreign languages are provided with a Russian-speaking guide, who understands local staff, and the representative of the tour operator who will help to "simplify” your stay in a foreign country as much as possible.
Cons of package tours:
Restrictions
This is the first thing that a tourist of a "package" holiday encounters. The date of the tour should be chosen based on the departure and arrival days offered by the operator, the same applies to the departure time of the flight itself.
Upon arrival, the tourist is limited in traveling - he is told where and how much to eat, where to swim and where to go. In addition, many large hotels are at a decent distance from the resort towns and each time to get to "civilization" you will need to pay by yourself.
Superficial vacation
Going to a new country, many tourists tend to find out more about it. However, in package tours you will no have such an opportunity. You will communicate only with the same tourists, often mostly Russian-speaking. Excursions are quite short and do not include much free time and travel.
Dependence on the group
Group tours, airport pick-ups and even events at the hotel - all this is designed for a certain number of people who need to gather in one place and at one time. Traveling with a crowd of other vacationers is often tiresome, not to mention the constant waiting for latecomers.
Risks
To deal with dishonest travel agency means to lose all the money paid for the tour at a stroke or, at best, get not what you expected.
Charter flights
The well-known problem of charter flights is frequent and long delays. In addition, the quality of service on board also leaves much to be desired.
Hard selling
Tour operators and their representatives in hotels earn money on quite expensive excursions. For this reason, excursions, yachting, karting and trips to the islands will be highly imposed on vacationers. Those who go for free excursions, by default, are taken to jewelry boutiques, fur shops and textile stores.
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