As part of the INTOURMARKET-2022 International Tourism Exhibition, Oksana Danilova, Head of the Commercial Department of TCH JSC, and Konstantin Nesterenko, Head of Mixvel Product Marketing Department, spoke about trends in domestic and international transportation, and also presented a platform that will allow agencies to optimize the process of selecting the ideal route for the client.
As Oksana Danilova, head of the commercial department of TCH, said in her speech with reference to data published by the international air transport association IATA, in 2021, compared to 2019, passenger traffic decreased by 58.4%, demand for international destinations – by 75.5 %, seat occupancy rate – up to 58%, demand for domestic destinations – by 28.8%, seat occupancy rate for domestic flights – up to 74.3%.
The International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO published the following data:
- The overall reduction in seating offered by airlines was 40%;
- Total number of passengers decreased by 49%;
- Estimated loss of gross operating revenue of airlines was US$324 billion.
“By the end of 2021, a total of 111 million passengers were transported in Russia. And this is only 17% lower than in 2019. It is noteworthy that the ongoing restrictions on international routes redistributed passenger demand, and in 2021, compared to 2019, demand on domestic routes increased by 20%, while on international routes it did not recover and decreased by 60% compared to 2019″< /em>,” said Oksana Danilova.
During her speech, the speaker also said that the TOP-7 Russian airlines are Aeroflot, S7, Utair, Pobeda, Ural Airlines, Nordwind, Rossiya – transported 77% of the total Russian air transportation market.
In the long-distance rail transportation market in 2021, compared to 2019, the volume of passengers carried decreased by 20%: approximately 93 million people were transported.
The total number of passengers sent and received by Russian airports of both foreign and Russian airlines in 2021 was 7% lower than in 2019. So, according to the results of last year, the indicator amounted to approximately 204 million passengers. At the same time, an increase was recorded on domestic routes, as well as a large decrease in the number of passengers on international routes.
Experts of TCH JSC have identified a trend that in 2021, passengers began to purchase more tickets only one way. The indicator increased by 23%. According to Oksana Danilova, this may be due to the fact that either a sufficiently large number of travelers returned home or left for other countries, for example, to work remotely.
The upcoming summer season is difficult to predict, but there will most likely be a strong demand for travel to the Russian south, rail traffic will continue to grow, and most people will spend their holidays in their city. It is noted that travel has become more meaningful, and there may be an increase in the number of trips that are aimed at improving mental health and relieving stress.
“The only thing that can be said more or less definitely is that the post-COVID-19 trends that have appeared on the market due to the pandemic will continue and most likely will continue to influence the behavior of passengers and travelers. The pandemic and restrictions have caused serious changes in the perception of passengers, and the issue of health and safety is now coming to the fore”, – Oksana Danilova.
For example, Collinson Group, the owner of Priority Pass, conducted a survey on priorities of travelers and determined the following:
- Approximately 78% of respondents consider vaccination against coronavirus a guarantee of air travel safety;
- 74% plan to get a passport of the vaccinated;
- 72% cite the need to quarantine upon arrival as a reason not to travel;
- 49% consider social distancing important;
- 48% will use business lounges;
- 24% – intend to use contactless registration methods using biometric passports;
- 22% – plan to travel on short flights;
- 20% – prefer to order food in advance.
“Pandemic restrictions have caused a boom in technology. Market participants began to invest even more in the development of digitalization. An example of such a technical collaboration is the cooperation between TCH and Sirena (the developer of the new Mixvel platform, which in the foreseeable future will replace the Sirena-Travel GDS, while offering users a unique multimodality technology, access to NDC content of airlines while maintaining standard reporting and mutual settlements through ” TCH”)”, shared Oksana Danilova.
Mixvel is a Russian travel aggregator for agencies that contains content from more than 270 airlines, including on charter flights, as well as content on railway transport, buses and additional services. Head of Mixvel Product Marketing Department Konstantin Nesterenko named the following among the benefits of using the platform for agents:
- Reduced costs due to integration with Mixvel (significant content from different vendors in one API);
- Unique list of carriers + information on charter flights;
- Various forms of payment, including credit cards and clearance on different stocks;
- Automation of search, booking and after-sales service processes;
- Technical support for connection, operational updating and maintenance of API on the Mixvel side.
Connection to the Mixvel platform will allow agencies to connect all travel services in one tool, in one business process, and thereby choose the ideal route for the passenger, as well as automate after-sales service processes (exchanges, returns, etc.).