A Slightly Different Travel: No More Ultra Last Minute Offers, Every Trip Needs Planning

Recently, advertisements from travel agencies with slightly different, more innovative travel offers have been increasingly appearing on social media. Agencies that deal with the outgoing segment, i.e., organizing trips for Croatians abroad, have started to create more attractive arrangements, such as a five-day train trip through the Swiss Alps for 600 euros, a 12-day tour through the ‘-stans’ (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) for two thousand euros, or an 11-day tour of cities and the most attractive national parks in the USA (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Arches, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and the legendary American Route 66).

The American tour costs just over three thousand euros. They still offer classic arrangements such as Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Greece, and European cities, but this can be called a breakthrough from the offers that agencies have rarely changed for decades, adhering to the business philosophy of ‘better safe than sorry’.

There are all kinds

It is a common belief that Croatians travel little outside their borders; for example, much less than Slovenians. We probably travel less frequently than they do, but we travel quite a bit, especially in the last ten years, during which a new profile of travelers has emerged – young globetrotters among the younger audience, as well as new generations of parents who loved to travel when they were younger and now include their children in their life dreams. Thus, there are countless groups on Facebook formed for advice on traveling with children, including specialized content such as hiking.

– Croatians have always traveled, and in the last two years, they have traveled so much that we have started to refuse closed groups that contact us late because, due to a lack of bus drivers, airplane seats, and workforce, as well as slow responses from suppliers, we do not have time to handle everything. The pandemic took some workers in tourism who switched to other jobs, and these were very good and quality people who simply had no choice. Our traffic has increased by more than sixty percent. I cannot speak for others who were in trouble before Corona; there are all kinds of agencies – explains Gabrijela Koščica, director of the outgoing agency Idea Travel.

Reserved a year and a half in advance

Regarding demand, she adds that Croatians in eighty percent of cases request flight arrangements from the agency, which is logical because they have less time and it is easier to travel by plane. Since the price of buses has increased, it is hardly worth traveling to some destinations by that means of transport.

– The key factor, I assume, is price. Most Croatian travelers have realized that there are no more ultra last minute offers. The market has cleared up a bit, and now they are looking for travel and planning much more in advance. Our customers of expensive arrangements are mostly families with children; I assume they are entrepreneurs or people with higher purchasing power. Many of them have not traveled for a long time, so they can afford more. There is a noticeable decline in cheaper travel because travelers are becoming better educated and know how to read what is not emphasized, and they like to have offers in black and white – emphasizes Koščica.

The demand for train arrangements in Switzerland is, she says, high, just like last year.

– We reserve hotels a year and a half in advance, and as things stand now, we will need to book two years in advance because almost everything is already filled for next year – says Koščica.

Decisive price

At the agency Politrip Travel, which organizes a 13-day trip to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan with all possible content, from visits to national parks and sightseeing of natural beauties to cultural and historical tours, amusement parks, horseback riding, and overnight stays in hotels, yurts, and trains, they say that since the epidemiological measures have eased, people have started traveling in large numbers, which may be due to several factors: two years of restricted movement, which made people long for travel, a higher standard of living in urban areas, especially among the younger population and those employed in the IT sector, and a desire to visit new destinations.

– The deciding factor is still price, and in second place, according to our estimate, is the number of free days they need to allocate for travel. The average customers of more expensive arrangements are people with higher appetites who have already visited well-known destinations and are looking for something different – they say at Politrip.

Considering that there was an exodus of workers to other sectors during the pandemic, it has become questionable whether they, like tourist guides, have returned to the sector. At Idea Travel, they say they have no problems finding guides; in some destinations, they also use locals, but rarely.

– Our travelers have mostly gotten used to having the tour leader also be the guide, which is not the same. If we had a local guide at every destination or location, it would be too expensive for travelers, and it also does not make much sense because our tour leader knows how our travelers think and gets to know them on the first day. It is the same mentality, so it is somehow more harmonious – believes Koščica.

At Politrip, they explain that for already known and established destinations, it is not a problem to find guides, but for specific ones, such as various ‘-stans’, it can be a problem despite the logistical support of local agencies.

To each their own

According to data from the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies (UHPA), about 30 percent of the total number of registered travel agencies in Croatia offer trips abroad in their range of services. According to data from the State Bureau of Statistics (DZS), Croatian travel agencies organized multi-day trips for 582 thousand domestic tourists in 2022. Multi-day trips to foreign countries were organized for 179 thousand (30.7 percent of the total number), resulting in 657 thousand overnight stays. On average, four overnight stays were achieved in foreign countries. Among foreign countries, domestic tourists traveled the most to Italy (24.1%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (9.2%), Germany (6.1%), France (5.7%), Turkey (5.5%), Hungary (5.3%), and Austria (5.1%). Compared to 2021, last year domestic tourists traveled and stayed in foreign countries 400 percent more, while compared to 2019, it was 47.6 percent less.

However, the DZS does not have absolute records of the quantity and number of trips that Croatians make abroad, nor does any other institution in Croatia. The DZS collects data from reports from travel agencies, and a huge number of Croatians bypass agencies in organizing trips. Through agencies, they may still buy plane tickets (although that is no longer necessary today), but due to the vast offer of online platforms such as Booking.com or Airbnb, there are no problems with accommodation reservations either. Agencies are still useful for those travelers who want to see as much as possible in a short time and do not have the time to organize all excursions, find cheaper accommodation or plane tickets, especially if they are traveling to distant countries, especially with small children.

Both near and far

At UHPA, they say that agencies are increasingly being asked for closer and shorter trips, especially destinations with direct flights, and that in the post-pandemic period, interest among Croatians for distant travel and exotic destinations (Dubai, Mexico, Morocco, South America, Japan, Jordan, Thailand) and cruises has increased again, so guaranteed departures have also returned to the agencies’ offers. For example, Mondo Travel organizes a large 11-day tour of Japan, from Tokyo to Osaka, for about three thousand euros.

Just as there were Croatians who had enough money to attend the World Cup in Qatar, which was enormously expensive, there are also those who will spend around three thousand euros for attractive, specific, unique, and ultimately imaginative tours, of which there could certainly be many more in the agencies’ offers.