In addition to Montenegro, the leaders in tour demand are the traditional high-season destinations: Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Italy, Thailand, and Bulgaria.
Demand grew thanks to an extremely flexible pricing policy pursued both by accommodation providers abroad and by tour operators. Nevertheless, in terms of profitability, the season turned out to be not as profitable as last year, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) reports ATOR.
“Profitability did not increase. The demand environment in the outbound tourism segment continues to be driven by saving. Tourists are shortening the length of their vacations, taking the minimum of additional services on site, trying to save on accommodation, but without dropping down to 2-3* properties. They are also trying to save on excursions,” said Maya Lomidze.
“Tourists did not start spending more. They spend the bare minimum necessary for a more or less comfortable vacation. And this overall picture was present in almost all summer outbound destinations in the tour operator segment. The 10-15% growth we are talking about was achieved in the budget segment and the lower end of the mid-range product. The luxury tourism segment showed enviable stability. Overall growth could have been even higher if the middle class had not moved entirely into the budget segment, and if budget tourists could afford to travel,” noted the executive director of ATOR.