Growth Rate of Tourism Online Sales to Drop
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The deteriorating economic situation in Russia affects the mobility of the population, which in turn hits the online travel market. Growth rate has been down since the end of November, and the sales volume for the New Year dates has dropped. That is why there are difficulties in store for online agencies next year, said General Director of Biletix Alexandr Sizincev on a press-conference devoted to the online travel market.
Offline air ticket sales are also on the decrease. According to the Transport Clearing House, in 2011 the year-on-year increase in the number of flights was 25-30%, in 2012 – 15-16% and this year the projected growth is 14%.
Another handicap, according to the general director of Biletix, is the decrease of the profit margin of agencies due to a lower commission from airlines, with many eliminating it altogether. ‘Aeroflot’ is going to do it starting next year’s January 1, while ‘Transaero’, on the contrary, has upped the commission. The higher rate is in effect from December 10 through January 12.
Sizincev says that next year will see further growth rate drops, with railway ticket sales continuing to decrease.
“The competition will become fiercer, we will see mergers, and new companies will find it much harder to take off, since the price of entering the market has reached millions of dollars,” he said. “There will also be significant difficulties in attracting investments, since investment funds have spent a lot of money on startups, many of which have not yielded the desired results.” Also, financially well-off western companies like GoVoyages, Opodo and Edreams can be expected to enter the Russian market.
As survival means in this unfavorable state of affairs Sizincev offers selling related services, dynamic packaging and launching partner programs.
He also said that this year the air ticket sales of Biletix grew from 85 to 90%, while railway ticket sales dropped from 13 to 7.5%. The average bill increased from 15,478 to 15,646 rubles.
В2В airline ‘Portbilet’, which is also a part of ‘VIP Service’ holding, sells 4 thousand air tickets and 3.5 thousand railway tickets a day. This year the volume of ticket sales, according to General Director of ‘VIP Service’ Dmitry Gorin, increased 66%. Both services of the holding sold 9,100,000 air tickets and 4,200,000 railway tickets.
Gorin also said that the low-cost company ‘Dobrolet’ that is being established by ‘Aeroflot’ is interested in working with online agencies. ‘VIP Service’ intends to start negotiations with the carrier.
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