An operational find: Russians have started booking tours right before their trips
More and more tourists are abandoning travel planning in advance. They reserve hotels almost side by side — three to five days before the trip, travel agents told Izvestia. Most of these orders are in hotels in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Adler, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad and Rostov-on-Don. The situation is related to the increasing trend towards spontaneous travel. In addition, Russians are trying to urgently "change the picture" at the end of the year. About what else this behavior of tourists is connected with, see the Izvestia article.
Where sudden bookings are popular
The Russian travel market is shifting towards spontaneous trips, participants in the travel industry told Izvestia. According to analysts at Mantera Supreme, the volume of last minute bookings has been growing for the second year in a row — more and more tourists are abandoning travel planning in advance and booking hotels three to five days before their trip.
For example, hotels in resort locations such as Sochi, Arkhyz, Krasnaya Polyana and others record a high percentage of guests making an operational decision about a trip.
— Tourists are guided by the flexibility of work schedules and the still widespread format of remote work. This pattern of behavior is becoming typical for almost all seasons. Only summer vacations on the coast and winter visits to ski resorts demonstrated a longer booking window — from two to three weeks to two months," said Yulia Kapralova, General Manager of the Mantera Supreme Hotel.
According to industry participants, just two weeks before the New Year, a volume comparable to what is usually formed in September, when sales of rooms for the winter holidays begin, can be realized.
"This year we are seeing a strong polarization: some of the guests reserve their accommodation in advance, from two to six months, but at the same time a large volume of last minute sales remains,— Yulia Kapralova added.
When planning a vacation in Russia, more than half of travelers book hotels two to seven days before the check-in date, Elena Shelekhova, head of the OneTwoTrip travel planning service, confirmed: 22.3% decide on a stay 8-22 days before the trip, 13.8% book hotels the day before check–in, one to three months — in 9.8% of cases, and only 2.7% of travelers place an order in more than three months.
— In foreign trips, the statistics are somewhat different, as travelers still tend to decide on a destination a little in advance, — the expert noted. — 34.5% of travelers book hotels and other accommodation abroad two to seven days before check–in, 26.5% do it in 8-30 days, 20.7% in one to three months. In more than three months, 7.6% of tourists are ready to place a hotel order abroad, while only 10.7% of Russians are ready in one day.
Most of these orders are in hotels in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Adler, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad and Rostov-on-Don. Most of these bookings were made abroad in Istanbul, Dubai, Minsk, Yerevan, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Alma Ata, Shanghai, Astana, Bangkok.
Why do people break off on vacation
The higher the cost of the service, the more time people put into planning a trip, experts from the Tripster online service said. An increase in booking depth correlates with an increase in the average receipt by about 30%.
—Tourists who choose more premium services plan their trips noticeably in advance compared to those who choose mass—produced and inexpensive products," they noted. — In addition, the booking depth is inversely proportional to seasonality. During the summer, it is reduced due to the influx of vacationers and their more spontaneous behavior, while outside the high season, the average portrait of a traveler changes.
More experienced and "conscious" tourists who plan trips in advance remain in deep bookings.
According to the Tutu travel service, there are seasonal fluctuations in booking depth. For example, in May it reaches a maximum of about 18 days, which may be due to early planning of summer holidays.
"In summer and early autumn, on the contrary, the time from purchase to trip is reduced to eight to nine days, which may be due to spontaneous trips and burning vouchers," they said.
In autumn, the booking depth increases again, and by winter it returns to 10-11 days.
Among the reasons for such urgent bookings may be business trips or a window in a busy schedule, said Olga Sidorova, travel expert at the travel company Sodis.
"Oddly enough, the weather also sometimes leads to urgent bookings," she said. — They were going to spend their holidays in a country house, but the weather is "not festive", and suddenly they decide to break off on the road.
There are people who, in principle, tend to be spontaneous in making decisions, including in terms of travel, she added.
"An idea came up, we booked and flew,— Olga Sidorova said. — We have had cases more than once when clients came to the office with a suitcase, and while they were drinking coffee, the manager booked, processed the documents, and the clients went from the office to the airport.
This is most often how people travel to visa-free countries or across Russia.
What are the risks of spontaneous trips
The trend of spontaneous travel may be increasing, but this applies only to a certain category of tourists, for this you need to have free financial resources and a work schedule, says Natalia Gavrilova, CEO of Arkadia-Tour LLC.
"Not everyone can afford it, especially people with children in schools and institutes or elderly parents who need to be looked after," she said. — Global warming has led to the fact that the climate situation is also extremely volatile. Sometimes there's a flood in Dubai, sometimes there's hail in the desert, and you can't be completely sure that your planned vacation will go exactly as you imagined it.
According to the expert, the main trips should be planned in advance and only supplemented with spontaneous ones if you suddenly have free time and resources.
— For example, early booking discounts can significantly save money. Of course, there are situations when hotels could not sell their seats and lower prices at the last moment, but this is a rare exception that should not be targeted, especially since the most popular hotels on the most sought—after dates are fully redeemed before the start of the season," she said.
In case of early booking, the client has the opportunity to pay a small advance, and the main amount must be paid no later than two weeks before arrival. In foreign destinations, this allows you to monitor the dynamics of the exchange rate and pay when the most favorable rate is available.
— Therefore, it is better to plan trips as much as possible in advance, but also not to deny yourself the pleasure of relaxing if you suddenly have free time and money, — Natalia Gavrilova advised.
Avoiding long—term travel planning is a reflection of the general state of people, added Olga Kushnareva, a family psychologist and psychotherapist.
"We live in high uncertainty, where too much is changing too fast, and the psyche is increasingly choosing the 'here and now' strategy," she pointed out. — Spontaneous travel gives you a sense of control and brings back a taste for life — not sometime later, but right now.
By the end of the year, this effect increases: fatigue, monotony, and overload accumulate. The desire to urgently "change the picture" is an attempt to reboot the nervous system and get out of the usual scenario.
"A quick decision to leave becomes not about a vacation, but about an inner exhalation and the feeling that you can still choose and change your life,— Olga Kushnareva said.
Experts called one of the risks of spontaneous trips the probability of being left without rest or living in poor conditions, and overpayment can be significant. In particular, this applies to seasons of high demand, such as the New Year holidays.
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