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- Tighten your belts: the price of tourists' trips abroad has increased by 20% over the year
Tighten your belts: the price of tourists' trips abroad has increased by 20% over the year
The cost of foreign travels for Russian tourists has increased by 18-20% by the end of 2024, reported "Izvestia" in tour booking services. Most often our citizens vacationed in Turkey, Egypt, UAE and Thailand, the average price for a trip amounted from 140 thousand to 200 thousand rubles. And Japan, China and South Korea became the fastest growing destinations in terms of the number of hotel bookings. The cost of travel within Russia increased by 10% on average. In early 2025, we should expect another rise in travel prices, experts say.
How much prices for foreign destinations have risen
Theprice of the most popular trips abroad for the year rose by 20%, reported "Izvestia" in booking services and aggregators for the sale of tours. Most often Russians vacationed in Turkey, Egypt, UAE and Thailand.
In 2024, Turkey again became the most popular destination, but the share has slightly decreased, falling from 43% to 41%, said the online tour store Travelata.ru. The average check this year increased from 164 thousand to 202 thousand rubles.
Egypt was in second place. The average check increased from 153 thousand per tour to Br193 thousand.
In third place is Thailand, which is slightly ahead of the UAE - 12.6% and 12.5%, respectively, noted the press service of the search system, aggregating information on sales of tour operators and agencies "Turvizor. The average travel check reached Br227 thousand, while last year it was Br201 thousand. The average cost of a tour to the UAE amounted to Br145 thousand.
The most expensive destinations were Maldives and Seychelles with an average check of over Br360 thousand per tour, as well as Mauritius with Br462 thousand. When determining the most expensive tours, only the destinations, for which there is a regular and significant demand, were taken into account.
Abkhazia, China, Vietnam, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Abkhazia were also included in the top 10 in terms of popularity.
According to the service "Yandex Travel", in 2024 compared to 2023, the share of trips to non-CIS countries has increased. Japan (+790%), China (+695%) and South Korea (+680%) have become the fastest growing destinations in terms of the number of hotel bookings to foreign destinations in 2024 compared to 2023.
Belarus, Turkey and China accounted for the most bookings. At the same time, the three countries with the lowest prices per night in a hotel or apartment are the Philippines, Vietnam and Georgia.
Shanghai, Beijing, Paris, Barcelona and Rome became the leaders in the growth of bookings among foreign cities. The most popular cities were Minsk, Dubai and Yerevan.
Compared to last year, people started booking hotels in Sri Lanka 37 days in advance, in India 24 days in advance and in Serbia 28 days in advance. The interval between booking and arrival at the hotel decreased the most when traveling to Abkhazia and Egypt.
In general, from January to December the number of tours bought by Russians increased by 34% compared to last year.
What destinations are popular in Russia
According to Travelata.ru, travel within the country lost two percent over the year - up to 13%. And the average cost of a tour amounted to 78 thousand rubles - almost 10% more expensive than last year.
Moscow turned out to be the first in popularity for trips among users, noted in "Yandex Travelata". The share of the destination amounted to 16% among all flights. On average, four days were spent in Moscow, and air tickets were booked two weeks before the trip.
On average, users planned flights within Russia 23 days before the trip, and most often to Sochi, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Mineralnye Vody, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Makhachkala, Samara and Novosibirsk.
Among domestic destinations, compared to last year , interest in Crimea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Altai, Kabardino-Balkaria and Adygea has also increased.
The hotel booking horizon increased in almost all regions of Russia. Demand for accommodation in Arkhyz, Dombai, Yalta, Anapa and Kolomna increased most of all.
According to MTS Travel service, despite the high popularity of recreation in Sochi, the flow of travelers is growing even more actively in other resorts of the Krasnodar Territory - in Vityazev (2.2 times year-on-year growth), Gelendzhik, as well as in Lazarevsky (1.8 times).
The demand for alternative tourist destinations concerns not only resorts. The third place of the rating of cities with the largest increase in bookings was shared by Maikop. The popularity of the Golden Ring cities - Rostov the Great (2.1 times year-on-year growth in bookings) and Kostroma (+50%) - has also grown significantly.
The number of bookings in Kolomna near Moscow increased by 61% year-on-year, and the city of Rybinsk in the Yaroslavl region showed almost similar growth (+57%).
In general, in 2024, Russians began to book online hotels and other tourist accommodation 30% more often. The top three leaders in terms of the number of orders were Moscow with a share of 15%, St. Petersburg (8%), Greater Sochi (5%) and Kazan (3%) - in total, they accounted for a third of all bookings in Russia.
- The average cost of a tour at the end of the year increased by 8%, which is even slightly lower than the official inflation rate, - explained Ilya Yurtaev, general director of "Turvisor". - This is due to the redistribution of demand: against the background of rising prices, people did not start to refuse tourist trips, as it was partly last year, but began to choose more budget destinations or hotels. This was most noticeable in July, when the number of tours sold increased one and a half times compared to last year. There was also growth in spring and fall, but on a smaller scale.
Will travel prices continue to rise
Thedemand for domestic tourism continues to grow: traveling in one's own country has become an integral part of Russians' life, noted Vadim Trukshin, General Director of Mantera Group.
- A rich calendar of events contributed this year to the growth of tourist flow to resorts, in particular, event tourism is developing, - he said. - Also, anxiety caused by constant stress makes tourists think more and more about their health. Therefore, the popularity of spa and wellness programs, sanatorium services, digital detox programs is high.
The expert noted that one of the main trends of 2024 remains the search for a unique gastronomic experience, which has become an important component of travel.
- Climatic changes have caused another trend - more and more travelers choose destinations with temperate climate, especially in the hot summer months, - added Vadim Trukshin. - The search for unusual experiences has caused the emergence of another trend - astrotourism, or traveling to observe stars, planets and astronomical phenomena.
The main reasons for the rise in the price of travel both abroad and in Russia are the growth of operating costs and the desire to improve service in a highly competitive market, according to Igor Rastorguev, a leading analyst at AMarkets. At the beginning of 2025 we should expect a new price hike in the travel industry.
- A considerable part of such expenses will be labor remuneration and tax deductions, - the expert noted. - In conditions of staff hunger it is necessary not only to attract and train personnel, but also to retain the existing staff, monitor the salary market and increase the income of employees so that they do not leave for competitors.
The costs of the recruitment process, i.e. the period of closing a vacancy, are growing - it has doubled in conditions of staff shortage. At the same time, the number of responses has decreased many times over.
- The costs of employee loyalty are much more than just labor remuneration," emphasized Igor Rastorguev. - These are intangible "pluses" that positively affect the atmosphere in the team.
However, the hotel business, which will invest in digitalization, will be able to level the growth of costs and subsequently save money. Thus, as the expert pointed out, "smart home" systems are able to adjust the temperature regime, for example, while the room is empty, lighting and water drainage, which will help to save on utility bills. And their increase will occur in July 2025.
- And thanks to professional equipment, such as robot washers, the cleaning process will speed up many times, and you can partially save money," he added.
How to save money on insurance policies
Most of the insurance policies are taken out by travelers to go abroad, Roman Shcheglevatykh, vice-president of the All-UnionInsurance Association, told Izvestia.
- The sum insured under such policies is specified in USD and EUR, respectively, the ruble equivalent of the insurance premium is calculated at the Central Bank exchange rate," he said. - Thus, with the growth of the ruble exchange rate, the cost of the policy becomes more expensive. In order to minimize the cost, in some cases clients refuse some additional options.
Also, according to him, it should be taken into account that the cost of the policy depends on the duration of the trip and the country of entry.
- Now there is a decrease in the number of insured days in the policy, - said Roman Shcheglevatykh. - In addition, the cost of the policy is influenced by the increase in the cost of medical services around the world after the pandemic, as well as the increase in the cost of transportation costs for medical and postmortem repatriation, which are part of the risk.
According to Artem Iskra, managing director of the retail underwriting department at Renaissance Insurance, the increase has been between 10 and 20%, depending on the country.
There is also a reverse trend affecting the decrease in the cost of insurance - the price of the policy depends on the duration of the trip (the longer the trip, the more expensive the policy) and the country of entry. Now there is a decrease in the number of insured days in the policy.
The average cost of a policy in rubles for each insurance company depends on its portfolio; some insurers note that the price of a policy in 2024 has not changed compared to 2023, and some even note a slight decrease in the average cost.
- The trends reflect the market's movement towards more flexible and personalized insurance solutions, as well as the expansion of the range of insurance services for different categories of travelers," said Vladimir Khrabrykh, Deputy General Director for Retail Business of Ingosstrakh.
According to the expert, special attention is paid to digital services for the convenience of clients and simplification of filing claims on insurance events to receive reimbursement.
