Travel agencies do not have enough for offices – Newspaper Kommersant No. 205 (7406) of 11/07/2022

The decrease in the income of travel agencies due to the fall in the number of outbound trips of Russians is forcing market participants to abandon their offline presence. Over the year, the number of company offices in large cities decreased by 11%. This makes it difficult to attract new customers, but experts do not expect the resumption of the development of offline sales, at least in the near future.

By November, the number of travel agency offices in 16 largest Russian cities decreased by 11%, to 7.1 thousand, calculated in 2GIS. The most noticeable decline occurred in Volgograd — by 18.4%, to 133 outlets. In Moscow, the number of offline travel agencies decreased by 10.5%, to 2.03 thousand, in St. Petersburg – by 11.9%, to 1.03 thousand.

Representative of OnlineTur.ru Igor Blinov notes that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of travel agency offices has decreased by 50% and the process continues: “The trend is undulating. At the beginning of the pandemic, they refused offices because they could not agree on preferential rent. In 2021, against the backdrop of a general recovery in the market, they were opened again, and now they are closing again.” Nikoliers, CORE.XP and R4S Group confirm that there is no request from the tourist industry for new offices.

“In conditions of a defective market,” it is inappropriate for agents to bear the costs of maintaining offices, Mr. Blinov explains. The income of market participants, he clarifies, forms a commission from the cost of the tour. In the case of trips abroad, we are talking about 6-7%, after paying taxes and acquiring, 4% remains. According to the CEO of Dolphin Sergey Romashkin, when selling tours in Russia, the commission is 8-14%, but the products themselves are much cheaper. Mr. Blinov notes that the cost of tours abroad has increased this year by an average of 1.5 times, but due to a decrease in sales in physical terms, the income of agents lags behind the figures for 2018-2019. According to the FSB Border Service, 9.7 million Russians went abroad in the third quarter, 2.4 million of them for tourism purposes. Compared to the same period in 2019, the indicators decreased by 40% and 61%, respectively.

Many agencies are reducing operating costs by giving up part of the space and reducing the presence of staff, says Natalia Osipova, executive director of the Alliance of Travel Agencies. Previously, according to her, three people usually worked in the office, now in many cases – only two. The operation of the premises can indeed be quite expensive. Irina Burenko, commercial director of R4S Group, says that one of the travel agencies for a room of 33 sq. m in street retail pays 590 thousand rubles. per month.

Nevertheless, Mrs. Osipova considers the office necessary for large agencies: “A tourist should have the opportunity to come to see the documents and personally get to know the employees.” The representative of Intourist, Daria Domostroeva, notes that experienced agents are switching to home work, setting up an online cash register and selecting offers for clients remotely. Sergei Romashkin clarifies that this option allows you to work with existing clients, but does not always ensure the influx of new ones.

Travel retail plays an important role in the business of tour operators. In “Intourist” agents provide more than 90% of sales, in “Dolphin” – 94%, they say in the companies. Anex Tour adds that the role of agents is now especially important amid the complexity of booking due to the large share of regular connecting flights, as well as due to the undulating nature of sales. Reductions in the number of partners in recent years in Anex Tour and Tez Tour are not noted.

Irina Burenko does not expect an increase in the interest of travel agencies in renting offices in the foreseeable future due to a decrease in the number of trips of Russians abroad. Sergey Romashkin notes that retail is gradually rebuilding its business, focusing on selling offers in Russia. According to him, before the crisis, due to the pandemic, domestic tours brought about 15% of the turnover to Moscow agents, today it is 30-35%, and in a couple of years the figure could grow to 50%.

Alexandra Mertsalova