New Year in Russian style – Newspaper Kommersant No. 198 (7399) dated 10/25/2022

After the announcement by the authorities of Moscow, the Moscow region and a number of other regions of the completion of partial mobilization in the tourism market, the demand for New Year’s tours within the country began to return. For some of the most popular ski destinations, it has grown by a third year-on-year, also due to problems with foreign travel. At the same time, Crimea continues to face an outflow of guests: the number of bookings for winter holidays in this region has dipped by 80% compared to last year.

Sales of tours in Russia for the New Year holidays are 25-30% higher than last year, Sergey Romashkin, general director of the Dolphin tour operator, told Kommersant. “We observed active sales in September, but in the middle of the month, after the announcement of partial mobilization, a sharp decline in demand began,” he explains. But after the authorities of Moscow, the Moscow region and other regions announced the completion of this process, demand returned again, the expert notes.

The representative of Intourist, Daria Domostroyeva, indicates that her company has seen a surge of interest in domestic destinations for the New Year holidays since the end of last week. She also attributes this to the emergence in some regions of clarity regarding partial mobilization. Fun&Sun states that the dynamics of sales has now returned to the indicators of the first half of September, and the total number of bookings is comparable to the level of last year.

According to Sletat.ru, tours in Russia on New Year’s dates now form 34% of sales, which is 13% higher than in the same period last year. There is a revival in the market, but this does not yet mean a boom in sales, the company notes. In October, tour operators sell about 25% of sales for the New Year holidays, says Mr. Romashkin. About 50% of demand falls on November, 25% – on December. At the moment, he calls the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory, Kavminvody and the Moscow Region the most popular destination. Daria Domostroeva adds that New Year’s tours to St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Baikal, Dombai, Elbrus and Arkhyz are also actively being sold.

The greatest revival, according to Sergey Romashkin, is observed in the Sochi ski cluster: interest in it is now 40% higher than last year. NJSC Krasnaya Polyana states that now the occupancy of rooms for the New Year holidays at the resort is 45%, which is 10 percentage points higher year on year. The most significant increase in occupancy in the company is noted in the five-star hotel segment. Mr. Romashkin says that this dynamics has not yet led to a pronounced increase in the cost: on average, placements are more expensive by 9-10% year-on-year, which corresponds to inflationary correction.

Sergey Romashkin links the current increase in demand for domestic resorts with a decrease in the availability of outbound destinations amid sanctions pressure. “The reduction in opportunities for flights and the increase in their cost has led to a redistribution of demand,” he adds. The expert suggests that in summer the effect was less noticeable due to the availability of budget foreign resorts, in particular Turkey.

Daria Domostroyeva states that positive dynamics in the domestic market is observed, despite the absence of charter programs in many tour operators. “On the one hand, there is now a sufficient volume of regular flights, on the other hand, in the context of the disbandment of Rostourism, there is now no clarity regarding subsidizing flights,” she says.

Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Dmitry Gorin believes that the current growth in demand in the domestic market ensures the relative affordability of such trips, in particular due to the significant volume of transportation. On the outbound market, the supply, on the contrary, is significantly limited, and the cost is growing due to dynamic pricing. In Sletat.ru, they state that the average check when planning a trip to Russia for the year decreased by 11.3%, to 34.9 thousand rubles. This can be explained by the caution of customers due to a decrease in their purchasing power, they say.

The only domestic destination, where, according to tour operators, there is a decrease in sales, remains the Crimea. At the moment, the demand for the direction, according to one of the market participants, is 50% lower than a year ago. There are practically no sales of tours for the New Year holidays to the peninsula, he says. “In the remaining period until the New Year, the situation is unlikely to change dramatically,” the Kommersant source said. He connects the lack of interest in the direction for the New Year holidays, in particular, with the explosion on the Crimean bridge. Another interlocutor of Kommersant speaks of an 80% drop in sales of Crimea.

Alexandra Mertsalova