The tourist industry has increased its momentum – Newspaper Kommersant No. 236 (7437) of 12/20/2022

Despite the decrease in the organized flow abroad in physical terms, the tourist industry will be able to increase its cash turnover this year. Dynamics will be ensured by a 30% increase in the cost of an average tour and the presence of popular destinations – Turkey, Egypt and Thailand. Market participants expect sales growth in early 2023, although the process will be constrained by the limited volume of transportation and difficulties with travel arrangements.

Outbound organized tourist flow abroad this year may be at the level of 8 million people, Dmitry Gorin, vice president of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, told Kommersant. According to him, according to the results of January-November, the figure reached 7-7.5 million people, and December is traditionally an active month. But the result, Mr. Gorin notes, will probably still be below the level of 2021, when 9 million organized tourists went abroad, and will be more than half the figure of 2019 of 19 million people.

In terms of money, the turnover of the market of organized tours this year will increase by 11-22%, up to 300-330 billion rubles, Travelata.ru predicts. Relative to 2019, the indicator will be 26-33% less. The Association of Tour Operators of Russia said that they had not yet summed up the results of the year.

The recovery of turnover provided an increase in the cost of tours. According to Travelata.ru, the average check for the year increased by 30%, to 116.6 thousand rubles, when buying a tour to Turkey – by 57%, to 149 thousand rubles. Representative of OnlineTur.ru Igor Blinov says that on average, foreign trips have risen in price by 20-25% over the year, which contributed to the growth of the company’s turnover, although the number of tourists will be comparable or slightly behind last year’s level. According to him, the turnover of the tourist industry could also be affected by sales in March – the end of September, when the cost of flights abroad rose sharply due to waves of panicky demand. The limited number of flights to outbound destinations has led to an increase in the depth of bookings and the average check, says Anex Tour. The main increase in the cost of tours, according to Dmitry Gorin, really occurred due to the rise in price of flights to some destinations by two or three times. According to Ostrovok.ru, Russians spent an average of 7.2 thousand rubles on accommodation in foreign hotels this year. per night, down 23% from a year earlier.

Anex Tour noted that the pace of sales was above initial expectations, in particular, due to strong demand for Sri Lanka, India and Thailand in the second half of the year. There is growth compared to last year, especially in the directions closed earlier, the company specified. They also record an increase in sales of hotel accommodation due to difficulties with foreign booking systems. Fun&Sun CEO Vladimir Rubtsov points out that this year his company sent more than 1.5 million tourists on vacation, which is slightly below the level of 2021, but exceeds the result of 2019. Intourist notes an increase in the flow to domestic and outbound destinations due to the expansion of flight programs.

The dynamics of outbound tourist flow abroad this year was constrained by the actual absence of previously popular destinations in the organized market – Greece, Spain, Montenegro, Croatia and Bulgaria. But the existing ones showed quite good dynamics. According to Travelata.ru, this year Turkey formed 37% of the sales of organized tours. According to local authorities, 4.63 million arrivals from Russia were registered in the country in January-October. This is 6.2% more than last year, but 30.8% behind 2019. Egypt, according to Travelata.ru, formed 16% of sales, the UAE – 7%, Thailand – 3%. Organized trips in Russia accounted for 26% of the company’s tours.

Travelata.ru marketing director Oleg Kozyrev says that in the fourth quarter, the service’s turnover grew by 60% year-on-year, which is in line with the dynamics before the pandemic. He attributes the effect to good sales in traditional winter destinations Thailand and Egypt and expects a prolonged positive effect in early 2023. Igor Blinov also expects a good start to the year. Although Dmitry Gorin assumes that the limited volume of flight programs, difficulties with visa processing and payments abroad will continue to hold back the recovery of outbound tourist traffic.

Alexandra Mertsalova