In the second part of September, demand for international trips was 25–40% greater than in the same time the previous year, Kommersant writes. According to Igor Blinov, a spokesman of the National Network of Travel Agencies, sales growth is dependent on the direction.
According to Oleg Kozyrev, Marketing Director of Travelata.ru, usually in September there is a decrease in market reservations, but this year this did not occur. Sales were robust, surpassing the September number from two years earlier by 50%.
Mr. Kozyrev attributes the strong positive dynamics to the realization of Egypt’s accumulated delayed demand. According to the expert, the destination is currently the second most popular, accounting for 17% of reservations. Turkey continues to be the sales leader, with 57 percent of the market.
Travel experts believe that Egypt accounts for 10% of all bookings, and the average booking check is 127.4 thousand rubles. Similar figures are projected for Turkey at 60% and 112.2 thousand rubles, respectively.
Igor Blinov believes that the active dynamics of reservations are related to the chilly weather established in Moscow in September and the terrible velvet season for Russian resorts.
“As a result of natural catastrophes in the Krasnodar Territory, many individual visitors who planned to relax in Sochi in September have rearranged themselves to go abroad,” he adds. According to Mr. Blinov, it is generally not difficult for such passengers to change direction: the domestic market has a low booking depth, and many visitors arrive at resorts by vehicle.
Darya Domostroeva, an Intourist tour company spokeswoman, discusses this. She observes that many tourist excursions are now motivated by a desire to “escape the cold weather.” At the same time, all open regions, according to the expert, are seeing consistent sales increase.
“There are no last-minute excursions on the market, and for school holiday periods in October-November, it is already hard to locate vacant rooms in famous hotels,” Ms. Domostroeva adds. According to Igor Blinov, the beach tourism season in Turkey often can last till the end of October.
TUI says that comparing total sales to 2019 is inaccurate since there were no limitations on mobility back then. At the same time, the firm observes a gradual recovery in demand for international travel compared to 2020 indications, which it attributes to the development of tour operators’ variety of offerings and the rise of passengers’ trust.
The need for PCR testing does not deter tourists, since many are already immunized, according to the business.
