Railway by road: families with children chose not only resorts this summer
Due to the congestion of sea destinations, Russians with children actively replaced it with their sightseeing holidays this summer, analysts and tour operators told Izvestia. In addition to Crimea and Krasnodar Krai, the families traveled to Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Veliky Novgorod and Yekaterinburg. St. Petersburg and Moscow also remained popular. At the same time, families increasingly chose apartments rather than hotels to save money. About how and where Russians and their children spent this summer is in the Izvestia article.
Where did Russians go in the summer
Trains became the most popular transport for a family trip on summer vacation this year: Russians who went on such trips bought almost 15% of the total number of tickets sold for their children. This was reported to Izvestia by analysts of Russian Railways-Digital Passenger Solutions, conclusions were drawn based on data from the Innovative Mobility platform. For air travel, this figure is approximately 11.5%, for intercity buses — 9.5%.
"The main part of popular destinations is the south of our country," analysts say. "Nine of the top 15 routes are southern."
Adler and Anapa, as well as Crimea, were expected to be the leaders among the railway destinations.
"The main cities from which and to which Russians who are going on vacation with their children buy flights are the popular Adler, as well as Moscow and St. Petersburg and the "oil capitals" Tyumen, Surgut and Nizhnevartovsk," the analysts noted.
The Ostrovok hotel booking service noted that interest in Crimean resorts has grown rapidly this year — by the end of summer, the number of bookings from tourists with children had increased by 63% compared to August last year. And according to the travel service Tutu.ru Travelers with children have increased their demand for the Krasnodar Territory — the share of tickets purchased in the region has increased from 19% to 26%.
Due to the overloaded sea destinations, families with children increasingly began to look at other interesting territories with a large number of attractions and excursions. So, according to Ostrovka, in the Sverdlovsk region the number of bookings from tourists with children increased by 31% in August alone, in Smolensk and Kostroma — by 20%, in Yaroslavl — by 14%.
"Positive dynamics was also recorded in the Novgorod Region and North Ossetia — 10% each," the service said.
In general, Krasnodar Territory, Moscow, Kaliningrad Region, Crimea and Tatarstan were named among the most popular destinations for families with children this summer. The top ten included Nizhny Novgorod Region, Stavropol Territory, Dagestan, Karelia and Yaroslavl region.
"We see that the structure of demand has been changing in recent years: seaside resorts are still at the top of bookings, but interest in sightseeing and urban routes is also growing," said Daria Kochetkova, managing director of the service. — Such trips allow you to combine recreation with cognitive activities for children.
Trips to tourist cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan really compete with summer sea routes, Russian Railways - Digital Passenger Solutions confirmed. Travelers also actively chose Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk from non-resort cities.
In addition, during the summer holidays, families with children traveled to Veliky Novgorod and Pereslavl-Zalessky.
How families with children are accommodated
In some regions, the proportion of tourists with children is higher than the average in Russia, analysts said. For example, in the Volgograd region, such bookings account for almost half of the total volume. More than a third of all bookings are made by family travelers in the Krasnodar Territory and the Voronezh Region (38% each), in Adygea (36%), as well as in the Crimea and the Lipetsk Region (35% each). In Dagestan and the Novgorod region, the share of such trips reaches 29%.
At the same time, travelers with children began to book apartments instead of hotels more often, as well as choose accommodation without meals, said the first deputy general director, a member of the board of directors of the travel service. Tutu.ru Igor Sivets.
"It allows you to save money and stay longer," he explained. — The average duration of a family holiday has increased by one day to nine.
Ostrovka also stated that apartments have become the most popular type of accommodation for family trips — they account for a third of all bookings (34%). Hotels without stars are in second place (22%). Guest houses (15%), three-star hotels (12%) and four-star hotels (8%) are also popular.
"Camping sites, cottages and glamping account for 3% of bookings from families with children, as well as one- or two-star hotels. Family travelers are less likely to choose five—star hotels (2%) and hostels (1%)," the company noted.
But this summer, the share of travelers with children decreased, albeit slightly — by 2%, Elena Shelekhova, head of the press service of the OneTwoTrip travel planning service, told Izvestia. According to her, they began to take vacations abroad more often — the share of orders with children abroad was 24%, which is nine percentage points higher than a year earlier. The remaining 76% of tourists with children spent their summer holidays in Russia.
Tourists with children abroad continued to prefer Istanbul this summer, followed by Minsk, Yerevan, Antalya and Dubai. Paris and Tbilisi also entered the top.
If we talk about foreign trips, the demand for accommodation with children in late summer increased by 8% compared to August last year. Kazakhstan (+75%), Belarus (+30%) and Georgia (+29%) showed the most noticeable increase for travelers in this category.
According to Ostrovok, the most popular foreign destinations for family trips are mainly the CIS countries and well-known resort countries without visa restrictions. The top ten countries are Belarus, Abkhazia, Georgia, Turkey and Armenia. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, the UAE and Thailand are also among the leaders.
"An interesting trend in the aspect of traveling with children this summer is that tourists have become much more likely to choose Southeast and East Asia for traveling with children in the summer," the <url> service noted.
The number of family trips to Vietnam increased almost nine times, to China 3.2 times, and to Indonesia 2.4 times compared to the same period a year earlier.
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