Roster increase and price reduction
Strengthening the ruble in February -March contributed to the revival in the tourist market. Demand for traveling abroad grew by 20% per month or more than 40% per year due to a slight decrease in the cost of flights and accommodation. Tourists seek to take advantage of the situation, including booking for autumn and winter. The most pronounced positive effect was for Asian markets.
The number of hotels’s booking abroad in the period from February 5 to March 11 increased by 20% compared to the previous 36 days, calculated in Yandex Travels. Analysts associate the growth of demand for trips with the start of the ruble that has begun. The island notes that the number of reservations abroad in March also added 20%by February, a year earlier the seasonal growth was less pronounced – 13%. Travelata.ru noticed an increase in the number of tours sold per month by 9%. By the year of sale, according to the calculations of “fly.ru”, increased by 44.3%.
In Fun & Sun, in February, sales increased by 60% year by year, in March – by 67%. This is due to both the growth of the company’s business and with foreign exchange oscillations. “In mid-February, we saw an increase in demand somewhere by 30–40%, and this level is stable, on March 19, against the backdrop of the ruble strengthening, there was a surge,” says Fun & Sun, Olga Ivanova. The expert explains that a favorable course often stimulates tourists to plan future trips. The manager of the tour operator Let’s Fly Lyubov Voronin also noticed an increase in the depth of reservation: sales are on the fall and winter.
According to Sbercib, from the beginning of the year to the end of March, the ruble has strengthened by 16%. Analysts explain the dynamics by increasing the supply of currency and a decrease in demand due to the improvement of the geopolitical situation due to negotiations of the Russian Federation and the USA and hopes for weakening sanctions. But the trend may be unstable without an influx of capital and increase exports. Analysts expect that the gradual increase in imports will put pressure on the ruble, and predict a course at 90 rubles./Bolsh in the second quarter and 95 rubles ./ Buna at the end of the year. In BCS, they retain the course of the course at the end of the year at the level of 106.3 rubles./$.
For travelers, the temporary strengthening of the ruble led to a slight decrease in the cost of trips. According to Ostrovka, in March the average price of a booked night abroad was 4% lower than in February, 8.8 thousand rubles. In some popular areas there is a decrease in the year by the year. For example, the night in China in March cost an average of 17% cheaper than a year earlier.
In Yandex Traveling, on February 5 – March 11, they noticed a decrease in the average cost of a bought flight to far abroad countries by 6%, to 30.8 thousand rubles. According to OneTwotrip, one -way ticket from Russia to China for a year fell by 15.8%, up to 32 thousand rubles. In March. In the case of Thailand, the decrease amounted to 10%, up to 36 thousand rubles, Turkey – 8.3%, up to 22 thousand rubles. In « Slot.ru » a decrease in the average check for the purchase of a tour in the UAE is noted by 32.4%, to 180.6 thousand rubles. In March.
According to the Aviations, the share of foreign directions in the general structure of demand as a whole is growing. In March, they accounted for 30.4% of demand. The indicator grew by 0.9 percentage points by February of this year and 2 percentage points by March last year. The most popular areas, such as Türkiye, the UAE and Armenia, have slightly reduced its share. At the same time, the indicators of Thailand and China have grown markedly. This may be due to the overall expansion of the geography of trips, which is also paid attention to in Yandex Travels. The currency course more affects more expensive flights to Asia, increasing the availability of such travels, this makes an increase in demand more pronounced, analysts reason.
In Yandex Traveling, they also record a significant increase in the number of reservations for South Korea, Japan and Indonesia. In an organized segment, additional demand also received long -range directions. In “Slot.ru” it is indicated that interest, for example, in the Maldives in March increased by 27.9%.
Anex Tour believes that a strong ruble is unlikely to remain the main factor in terms of the growth of the number of foreign trips. The activity of tourists is facilitated by the emergence of additional recreation options and the popularization of individual directions. As an example in the ANEX Tour, Vietnam is given, the demand for which has grown sharply with the formation of a charter program (see “Kommersant” of March 20). The island draws attention to the fact that this year an additional incentive is a successful configuration of the May holidays.
