Tourists are courting Abkhazia – Newspaper Kommersant No. 12 (7457) of 01/24/2023
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The Russians, having lost hope for the imminent removal of restrictions on air travel to European countries, began to think about summer holidays this year within the country and at nearby resorts. This led to an increase in demand for early bookings on domestic routes by 20-50% in general and a twofold increase in the popularity of trips to Abkhazia. Fearing a shortage of places in quality hotels, tourists this year are actively booking summer holidays in advance without seasonal discounts.
In January, Abkhazia became the leading domestic destination (tourist business traditionally considers the country in this segment) in terms of the number of early bookings for the upcoming summer season, Sergei Romashkin, general director of the Dolphin tour operator, told Kommersant. According to him, current sales are twice as high as last year. Now, according to the expert, 25% of the volume of placement planned for sale in Abkhazia for the summer has already been sold, while in previous periods in January this figure did not exceed 8–9%. Alean’s data show a 67% increase in demand for the destination.
Sergei Romashkin points out that high demand for Abkhazia is observed against the backdrop of high sales in all domestic directions. Thus, requests for summer holidays in the Krasnodar Territory in January increased by about one and a half times. Sochi has now sold about 10% of the planned volume for the summer against the usual 4%. “Last year, on January 18, a travel cashback was launched, which significantly spurred sales, but now we see an increase to these values even without stimulating promotions,” he explains. The expert does not rule out that tourists are afraid of a summer shortage of places in high-quality accommodation facilities and try to plan their vacation in advance.
The data of Alean also point to good dynamics: the demand for holidays in Sochi in the summer increased by 63%, in Anapa – by 38%, in Gelendzhik – by 55%. Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Dmitry Gorin points out that the demand for domestic destinations is now 25-30% higher than last year. This could result in tour operators ending early sales in February rather than the usual March. On international routes, according to the expert, there is no significant recovery yet. “The upcoming flight programs for the directions open for air transportation from the Russian Federation have not yet been fully agreed upon, the dynamics can be judged in February-March,” the expert explains.
However, Sletat.ru believes that the dynamics of booking tours in Russia lags behind last year’s figures due to the low depth of bookings and the surge in demand for Abkhazia stands apart. Sergei Romashkin points out that there are about 70,000 places for tourists in hotels in the republic, which is several times less than in Sochi. This factor, according to the expert, can act as an additional incentive for tourists when planning a vacation in advance. Mr. Gorin calls an important advantage of Abkhazia that the Adler airport will continue to work in the summer. According to him, the republic is considered as a place of budgetary rest, where the main demand is now focused. The cost of a tour to Abkhazia for two with accommodation in a three-star hotel is now from 41.6 thousand rubles, according to the calculations of Sletat.ru.
According to Alean, hotels in Abkhazia have risen in price by 20–25% over the year, which is higher than in the Krasnodar Territory (by 15%). According to tour operators, there are practically no discounts and promotions when selling tours to the republic for the summer months.
The only domestic destination, the interest of tourists in which is noticeably declining, was the Crimea. “Last year, the demand for the direction fell by half, this year it has doubled again,” notes Sergey Romashkin. He attributes this dynamic to statements by the Ukrainian authorities about possible hostilities near the peninsula. Another interlocutor of Kommersant on the tourist market also indicates that the situation with sales of Crimea is much worse than last year, and does not count on a revival of bookings. He does not rule out that many tourists will travel to the peninsula by car and book hotels just before their vacation dates. According to Alean’s estimates, sales of tours to Crimea fell by 64% year-on-year.
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