The share of foreign trips in the total volume of air sales reached 26%
Russian tourists began to be more often abroad. In the general structure of trips, the share of foreign directions in the first quarter increased by almost 5 percentage points a year by the year, to 26%. The increase occurs due to the expansion of the air traffic and strengthening the ruble, but is mainly ensured by reservations through agents. Internal tourism shows restrained growth, and real travelers on such trips are reduced.
The share of foreign trips in the total volume of air sales in the first quarter reached 26.1%, adding 4.8 percentage points a year by the year, calculated in Sberindex and OneTwotrip. Air Siles marked an increase of 2 percentage points a year by the year, up to 29%, in January – March. In Yandex Travels, they recorded an increase in the indicator to 17%, but the final figure did not lead. Tour operators ANEX, FUN & Sun and Russian Express note a more pronounced increase in demand in international directions. In “Flight.ru” they calculated that the reservation of tours abroad in the first quarter added 24.2% a year to the year.
Olga Ivanova, representative of Fun & Sun, calls the expansion of the air traffic. For example, in the first quarter, tour operators began to actively offer Vietnam: in the spring, the number of flights to the resorts of the country increased sharply (see Kommersant on March 20). The country showed a tremendous surge of booking, noted in ANEX. The second factor could be the strengthening of the ruble, contributing to an increase in the number of tourist trips since February, noted in Level.Travel.
Thanks to currency fluctuations, the increase in the cost of foreign trips in the first quarter turned out to be restrained. According to Sberindex and Onetwotrip, the average price of flight abroad was 23 thousand rubles, increasing by 8.8% a year by the year. According to Ostrovka, the average cost of a night in foreign hotels in the first quarter amounted to 15 thousand rubles, adding 7% a year to the year. The check when buying an organized tour to Egypt, according to Travelata.ru, was 164.6 thousand rubles, to Thailand – 256.8 thousand rubles. A year by the year, values increased by 7% and 5.2%, respectively.
The island noted that an increase in the activity of foreign trips occurs largely due to an increase in the number of trips through travel agencies. So, in the B2B-brains segment (sales through agents), international directions in the first quarter grew by 13% by the year, in B2C-only 2%. In the overall structure of sales, they form 33% and 16%, respectively. The island adds that 74% of agent sales abroad were formed by Asian countries, 20% – Europe.
The more active development of the organized segment of Ostrovka is associated with the difficulties preserved when planning foreign trips. Booking through agents allow us to also pay a significant part of the expenses in rubles. The second factor may be the development of directions with difficult logistics: the volume of reservations of agents in the countries of South America in the first quarter added 31% to the year, follows from the Ostrovka data.
An active increase in foreign directions becomes a factor that restrains internal tourism activity. In “Slight.ru” indicate a reduction in the number of tours reserved in Russia in the first quarter by 3.3% a year by the year. The Russian Express see a decrease in sales by 13%. Travelata.ru estimated that the share of Russia in the structure of the reservation of the first quarter for a year decreased by two percentage points, to 12%. From the third place in the structure of the most popular directions, Thailand shifted it. In Sberindex and Onetwotrip, in the first quarter, a restrained increase in the number of internal tourists was recorded – by 4% a year by the year. The main volume of trips was formed by Moscow (19.8%of the total), Moscow region (11%), St. Petersburg (5.9%), Krasnodar Territory (4.2%) and the Leningrad Region (2.8%).
The Russian Express says that trips around Russia have risen in price by 10-15%per year. But Sberindex and Onetwotrip notes that, taking into account inflation, the real expenses of tourists on them in the first quarter were reduced by 12% of the year by the year. On average, they amounted to 19.9 thousand rubles. for a person, follows from analysts. The amount includes transportation costs, accommodation and related costs. The trend speaks of the desire to save tourists, analysts say.
Alexander Tokmakov, head of the Yandex Traveling Travel Transport Services, expects to maintain a trend towards an increase in a share of foreign directions, recalling that it was minimal for several years. Although the rollback for the segment of domestic tourism, according to him, is unlikely to be significant: the geography of trips is expanding here, there are new points of attraction. Level.Travel calls the complicated logistics factor that holds international trips: for many organized travelers, the presence of a direct flight is the direction of choosing a direction. To this, visa restrictions and difficulties with the work of Russian bank cards abroad are added, says Voronin, head of international projects to fly.ru.
