Tour of the defenders of the fatherland – Newspaper Kommersant No. 16 (7461) dated 01/28/2023

The four-day holiday that accompanies this year’s February 23 holiday has led to a 60 percent increase in demand for organized tours and self-guided travel. The main share of sales is formed by trips in Russia, and organized tourists traveling abroad preferred Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Independent travelers, on the other hand, due to the increase in airfare prices, mainly chose the budget countries of the post-Soviet space, whose share in the demand for hotels has increased many times over.

Demand for organized tours dedicated to the February holidays has grown by 60% this year compared to the same period in 2022. Such data is provided by Travelata.ru. Analysts attribute the dynamics to the long weekend, which this year will stretch over four days – from February 23 to 26. Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Dmitry Gorin adds that this factor is superimposed on a large volume of transportation to popular destinations and relatively affordable off-season prices. And since March, the cost of rest begins to gradually increase with the approach of the high season, he points out. Although the general director of Dolphin, Sergey Romashkin, says that the demand for trips in the off-season is still constrained by the financial possibilities of tourists, many of whom have recently invested in New Year’s trips, and someone seeks to pay for summer holidays in advance.

Intourist representative Daria Domostroyeva confirms that the holidays have become a powerful catalyst for demand. “In terms of destinations, seats on charter flights and in the most popular hotels are already sold out,” she says. Although it is difficult to compare the figures with last year, according to the expert, due to noticeable changes in the flight program. Against this background, independent tourists also demonstrate high activity. According to Yandex.Travel estimates, the number of booked round-trip flights to domestic destinations on holidays this year is 1.6 times higher than the same indicator of last year, and 3 times more for foreign ones.

According to Sletat.ru, 23.6% of sales of organized tours for the February holidays form domestic destinations. Russia leads in the structure of demand, although last year the country’s share was higher – 24.7%. Tours in Russia are more often considered for shorter trips. According to Sletat.ru, the average travel time for holidays is four to five days, while in Turkey it is six to seven days.

According to Travelata.ru, the average check for holidays in Russia increased by 35% year-on-year to RUB 50.8 thousand. According to Dolphin, the Krasnodar Territory, ski resorts, Caucasian Mineral Waters, Tatarstan, St. Petersburg and the Moscow region became the most popular regions. OneTwoTrip estimates that Kazan has become one of the fastest growing holiday destinations in February this year, with ticket sales to the city up 30% yoy. Ostrovok.ru ranks Kazan in fifth place among domestic destinations in terms of accommodation bookings. According to the service, the average cost of a night here has grown by 33% over the year, to 4,000 rubles.

According to Sletat.ru, Thailand is the most popular destination for organized holiday trips abroad, accounting for 18.7% of sales. The share of Egypt, which was in the lead a year earlier, decreased from 42.4% to 17.2%, while the share of the United Arab Emirates increased from 7% to 12.6%. Turkey took 10.7% of demand against 4.2% for the same period last year. The average check for popular outbound destinations, according to Travelata.ru, grew by 39–69% over the year. This correlates with the rise in prices for air tickets abroad, which, according to Yandex.Travel, have risen in price by an average of 80% over the year.

Nevertheless, in the structure of demand for air tickets, the share of foreign destinations for holidays increased from 16% to 19% year-on-year, calculated in OneTwoTrip. The most popular destinations for independent tourists were Istanbul (8.7% of air ticket sales abroad), Yerevan (8.4%), Dubai (6%), Astana (4%) and Minsk (3.9%). Yandex.Travel includes Baku and Tashkent in the list of the most popular cities.

The average check for placement abroad, according to Ostrovok.ru, decreased by 39% over the year, to 6.9 thousand rubles. per night, which is explained by the increase in the share of budget destinations. Thus, they note in the service, the countries of the post-Soviet space, primarily Belarus, occupied 42% of sales, and a year earlier they accounted for only 5% of demand.

Alexandra Mertsalova