Summer 2020 – Cheaper and More Comfortable

Summer 2020 - cheaper and more comfortable

Not Greece but Turkey is the leader of early reservations for next summer. They increased by a total of about 35 percent, which shows that the change in the way you buy a holiday from last to first minute is permanent. Tourists decided that the exceptional price reductions in the past season are a one-off event.

The most important phenomenon is the large increase in reservations already in autumn 2018 for the summer of next year. By October 20, customers of travel agencies bought nearly 35 percent more tourist events for next summer (trips from 1 June to 30 September 2019) - results from Travelplanet.pl booking statistics.

The scale of growth is similar to those that took place in 2017 and the first half of 2018. Customers have radically changed their behavior and decided to buy holidays much earlier than in previous years. The decisive factor is the conviction about the stability of the tourism industry, but above all about the stability of the price for which we will fly on vacation. The Lowest Price Guarantee, which tour operators give on a large part of their offer, has caused the last of the reasons to postpone shopping to the last minute.

The current increase in reservations may come as a surprise, since last minute offers for summer 2020 were extremely affordable, because tour operators competed fiercely in price and accusations of dumpung were loud. But apparently the travel agency customers remembered summer 2017 better when the last minute offer was extremely unfavorable in price and the most popular destinations were sold out in advance.

Turkey is leading the way

The ranking of the most-booked destinations is different than before. Greece from the leadership position fell to 3rd place. It's just a little over 13 percent. all bookings against almost 25% in the same period of 2019.

The symptoms of Greece's satiety were already visible in the booking statistics for 2018, although it still remained the leader of popularity. But next summer, it will have to fight fiercely for primacy with Turkey (up from less than 18% to almost 29% of bookings), and on the way jump over Bulgaria, the runner-up of early reservations for summer 2019 (increase from 16% to over 18%) booking). However, Greece is not helped by the fact that the cost of rest slightly increased compared to summer 2018 reservations, while holidays in Turkey and Bulgaria promise to be cheaper by about PLN 70 and about PLN 120 respectively. In addition, rest on the Black Sea is just over PLN 1600 per person, and therefore very competitive with domestic offers on the Baltic.

It is worth noting the growing interest in Tunisia - with twice the percentage of all reservations (in autumn 2017 it was just over 3 percent) it is sixth, a jump of 2 places up

A very large decrease in the average cost of holidays in Portugal (about PLN 600), which came close to holidays in Spain, caused a noticeable increase in tourists' interest in summer recreation in this country.

The effect of cheaper directions

The next year's offer currently being bought is lower in price compared to the autumn reservations for summer 2018 - the average cost of vacations bought until mid-October has fallen from PLN 2,335 to 2,300.

And, interestingly, the preferred standard of rest is definitely higher than the one bought last fall. While slightly more than half of the hotels booked are four-star facilities (52 vs. 54% in autumn 2017), big differences can be seen in the case of 5 * hotels. This fall, rest in the highest standard bought nearly 30 percent. clients of travel agencies (last fall - 20 percent) while holidays in 3 * hotels have now been decided by 17.5 percent against 23.5% who made that choice in the fall of 2017.

The effect of high demand for holidays in Turkey and Bulgaria translates into both the average cost of holidays with travel agencies and their standard. Traditionally, Polish tourists going to Turkey choose primarily hotels of the highest standard, which are cheaper than similar facilities in European countries, while holidays in Bulgaria are traditionally among the cheapest. It is worth noting that in both cases the average cost of recreation in these countries has fallen by several percent.

We are more likely to be with a larger group, not necessarily with children

The number of tourists per booking increased to 3 compared to 2.85 in the summer of 2018, but this does not mean that the reason for this is the increase in trips of families with children. The number of the latter in reservations is almost identical compared to the summer of 2018. But given the very large increase in total bookings means that the percentage of children going to events organized by travel agencies has fallen from 16%. to just over 10 percent

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