Tour operators: Lithuanians already travel a lot, and almost no one travels to Lithuania
– This is first a look at what the situation is most in the travel business, compared, for example, with the same period last year. Is tourism recovering?
– If the two directions of tourism are to be distinguished, outbound tourism is actually in a good mood, the flows are gradually recovering. We have seen that in the summer even the tour operators even managed to reach about 70 percent. flows. We are actually very, very happy about that.
But there is another part, inbound tourism, there are really problems in this place and there is no proper state aid for this sector. We therefore place a strong emphasis on the issue and say that help is needed: preserving jobs, developing a strategy for attracting tourists from other countries.
But returning to outbound tourism, one of the busiest few seasons now begins in the fall. A long weekend in Lithuania, school holidays, which, by the way, have been extended, which allows travelers to travel for a period longer than a week.
Currently the most popular destinations are, of course, direct charter: Turkey, Egypt, Canary Islands. Of course, and indirect trips are fully directions available. For example, Dubai, such as the Maldives, Mexico.
In fact, travel encourages Lithuanians to test and get vaccinated.
And Lithuanians willingly travel responsibly, moreover, they did it and tested it. Probably the tourists or travelers are the first to take care of the vaccine and have already actually asked how it will be here for the third vaccine, whether to wait 180 days. In fact, travel encourages Lithuanians to test and get vaccinated.
A test may be required
– I have heard from a familiar person that when traveling to Tenerife, for example, even though you have been vaccinated with both vaccines and Tenerife, it is Spain, you recognize them because it is the European Union, but you are being asked for a PCR test. Namely, travelers from Lithuania (…). Are such cases repeated elsewhere, or is this an exception?
– I would like to clarify: Spain is currently running a campaign to even test and arrive with vaccines. This does not apply exclusively to Lithuania, I can definitely confirm that (…).
Naturally, if there were any varieties, we could certainly get tested, but that doesn’t show travelers ’travel plans. you arrive with the vaccine, you don’t have to wait extra for the result, just test and then you drive to your car.
The United Kingdom is doing the same, that on the second day, if you are, for example, in London for more than days, you need to take more tests. Doing Israel and Iceland. However, we can certainly see that this trend has not spread, and we hope that it will be limited to a few regions.
Getting ready to travel for Christmas
– Depending on whether Lithuanians have already bought tickets for the winter holidays, one can imagine expectations – how Lithuanians imagine what awaits them in the winter, in terms of quarantines, a pandemic. What about winter with tripods? Maybe you can compare, for example, with 2019?
– Intensity is very difficult to estimate, we will calculate the statistics when all the trips have already taken place. However, the number of inquiries and the desire of customers to travel shows that we will probably get the same statistics as we did this long weekend – certainly at least 70%. people who traveled in 2019 will do the same during this year’s Christmas period.
Travelers really travel safely, they are interested in what the rules are, what are the COVID regulations, what are the tests, what are the regulations applied by the country, the hotel, the airline.
Definitely at least 70 percent. on the roads of persons who traveled in 2019 and during this Christmas period.
This is really of interest to travelers. Therefore, we all inform that it is necessary to arrive at the airport earlier, because we check the vaccination documents. There may be longer queues.
Still take the opportunity to urge anyone who travels on the weekend or during the student holidays this year to arrive at the airport certainly not two hours ago, but earlier, as the queues will be huge.
There are five planes a day to Turkey alone, I am not talking about another direction, such as Spain, Madeira, Egypt. In fact, queues can form, but there are ways to avoid them. An inexpensive quick check service is available when you don’t have to stand in line.
If you want to be more remote, you can also buy a permit for a business class club both in Lithuania and abroad. It really is, let’s do what’s up to us: let’s arrive earlier, wear a mask, follow the other rules required by the airport, whether the carrier, the country, or the hotel, and all will be well.
And that the desire to travel is high is shown not only by leisure travelers, but also by companies. Companies take their events abroad, and not only for the money, but also because you can find the infrastructure to operate, say, your huge event, to take out 50, 70 or 100 employees. This trend is such that the need for travel is very high.
– Have such outbound business trips and business trips been interrupted and are now recovering? Did the business travel like it did after all?
– From March last year to mid-summer this year, travel was certainly less – the so-called business meetings, business events, but it recovered in the second half of the summer.Also gaining momentum now.
When it comes to business travel, it is not only corporate events, but also exhibitions in Germany, the Netherlands, Dubai EXPO received a lot of interest and attention of passengers. Lithuanians are traveling.
We have high hopes for the open United States, the Asian countries that open one after the other. It is really good that there is a European COVID certificate, it allows us to travel not only to Europe but also to another country.
Wants support for inbound tourism
– To mention at the beginning about inbound tourism and its problems. What to do here? And what are your predictions, knowing the effects of coronavirus in Lithuania?
– Despite the fact that the pandemic situation in Lithuania in the summer was quite good, we received only 30 percent. tourist flow, which was normally in 2019. It’s really a very very small number and a very low figure.
There are three main indicators of what needs to be done: a clear tourism strategy is needed, how we will change the Russian and Belarusian markets, what country we will attract to travel to Lithuania.
Despite the fact that the pandemic situation in the summer was quite good in Lithuania, we received only 30 percent. tourist flow, which was normally in 2019.
Inbound tourism workers need to be retained. There are really few inbound tourism companies in Lithuania, there are up to a hundred, probably up to a thousand employees, it is certainly not so large that Lithuania cannot allow it today. These employees or these companies will not receive income from 2019. end. They will receive their first pajamas only in 2022. in the summer. Then jobs need to be helped by 2022. summer.
At the same time, we need to have an action plan for tourism strategy. As a result, we have already approached the Ministries of Economy and Innovation and Social Security and Labor. We very much hope that a solution will be found and that these businesses will certainly be helped. We must understand that the money brought by tourists to Lithuania is a very large contribution to the Lithuanian economy.
– By the way, is it possible to calculate the loss?
– Definitely yes, the loss is easy to calculate. In 2019, revenues to the state budget amounted to about 1 mln. 300 million euros. A billion came from tourism and 300 million. EUR – from outbound tourism.
Lithuania has not received that billion this year. It looks like it won’t get well next year unless action is taken quickly. Also, if action is not taken quickly, the list of unemployed or unwilling to work will lengthen. That is why we call on the Government to take immediate action to help the inbound tourism sector.