Turkish May – Newspaper Kommersant No. 51 (7496) dated 03/25/2023

The increase in the variety of available destinations, the growth in demand for travel abroad and restrictions on the operation of southern airports have led to a reduction in the share of Russia in the structure of sales of tours for the May holidays. During the year, the figure more than doubled, to 24%. Some tourists oriented towards the domestic market may also refuse short trips, focusing on the main summer vacation.

The share of Russia in the structure of sales of tours for the May holidays for the year decreased from 59% to 24%, calculated in Sletat.ru. According to Travelata.ru, domestic destinations now form 24% of sales against 53% a year earlier. The interlocutor of Kommersant in the tourist market speaks of a decrease in sales of tours in Russia for the May holidays by 35% in physical terms year on year.

Yandex.Travel data indicates that tickets in Russia during the spring break form 76% of sales against 89% a year earlier. According to the company, flights to the southern airports of the Russian Federation are limited, and many foreign countries have opened after the pandemic. The share of non-CIS countries in the structure of bookings increased from 8% to 14%, the share of neighboring countries – from 3% to 9%. OneTwoTrip says tickets in Russia account for 78.3% of holiday sales, up from 93.5% a year earlier.

Sergey Romashkin, general director of the Dolphin tour operator, says that the demand for trips around Russia during the May holidays is comparable to last year. In addition, a year earlier, long weekends fell into the period of the “tourist cashback”, he notes. Perhaps many tourists refuse additional weekend trips, trying to save money by concentrating on their main summer vacation, Mr. Romashkin adds. Fun&Sun said that the total volume of sales for the May holidays for the year increased three times, in Russia – by 30%. Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Dmitry Gorin notes that the share of domestic destinations may still change, as many trips are booked closer to arrival dates.

According to Travelata.ru, the average check for booking tours in Russia for the holidays increased by 13% over the year, to 59.1 thousand rubles. In Alean, they say that coastal hotels for spring break have increased prices by 7-20% depending on the object, city hotels by 5-7%. The most popular domestic destinations for holiday trips are the KavMinVod region (36% of sales), Sochi (20%), Anapa (12%) and Gelendzhik (7%). In “Yandex.Travel” they say that tickets are most often bought to St. Petersburg, Sochi and Kaliningrad. The average check for the year increased by 25%, to 13 thousand rubles. The overall demand for organized tours during the May holidays is rather high.

According to Travelata.ru, total sales are now 85% higher than in the same period in 2022. Sletat.ru data shows an almost two-fold increase. “Last year, due to the outbreak of hostilities, tourists almost did not book tours in early March, with the exception of trips around Russia,” says Oleg Kozyrev, Marketing Director of Travelata.ru. Sletat.ru points out that, in general, organized tourists are now choosing 20 different destinations for recreation, which is 2.5 times more than last year.

The most popular organized destination for the May holidays in Sletat.ru and Travelata.ru is Turkey. According to the estimates of the latter, the direction now generates 36% of sales, which is comparable to last year’s 35%. But Mr. Kozyrev recalls that approximately 20% of May tours to Turkey have been postponed since March due to problems with international air traffic. The average check when booking a country for the year increased by 37%, to 183 thousand rubles. In second place among outbound destinations, according to Travelata.ru, is Egypt: whose share in sales for the May holidays increased from 6% to 11% over the year. The average bill for the year increased by 4.2% to 191.5 thousand rubles. Another 17% of sold tours for the May holidays are in the UAE. According to Travelata.ru, over the year, the share of the direction increased by 8.5 times, and the average check increased by 15.7%, to 216.2 thousand rubles. According to Yandex.Travel estimates, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates are the leaders among independent travelers.

Alexandra Mertsalova