How is the business travel market reacting to sanctions and restrictions today? Has Russian business started to go on business trips less and what destinations are now most in demand among business tourists? These and other questions were answered by experts from Raketa, a digital travel and expense management platform. They summed up April 2022 by analyzing the business trips of Russian companies.
In comparison with the same period last year, the increase in corporate travel in April 2022 amounted to 23%. At the same time, in Russia, companies most often send their employees on business trips to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Stavropol, Kazan. From foreign cities to the top three Nur-Sultan, Tashkent, Almaty. However, in addition to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, business tourists from Russia today are also sent to Belarus, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Italy, Uzbekistan, India, Algeria, Armenia, France, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Qatar, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Denmark and Cyprus.
Let's fly!
At the end of April 2022, the increase in demand for air tickets among business travelers (by April 2021) amounted to 1.15%, by March 2022 – 9.2%. At the same time, the cost of air tickets has increased significantly. Compared to April last year, in April 2022, their average cost increased by 37%. However, the increase in air transportation prices, as statistics show, did not cause a decrease in passenger traffic in the corporate segment.
Most often, in April 2022, company employees flew by plane to Moscow, St. Sochi, Irkutsk, Kazan and Krasnoyarsk. In addition to Russia, business tourists flew to Kazakhstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Italy, Turkey, India, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates.
By rail
In April 2022, compared to the same period last year, corporate tourists began to use the train by 13.8% less. However, compared to March 2022, April (current year) showed an increase in the number of passengers among business travelers by 3.4%. It is noteworthy that the average cost of railway tickets in April 2022 for destinations in demand in the corporate segment decreased by 10.5% (against April 2021).
Among the most popular destination cities for business tourists are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Khabarovsk, Rostov-on-Don, Yaroslavl, Ryazan, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Tynda. However, there is a small demand for railway trains to Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Hotel sector
The hotel segment continues to demonstrate positive dynamics. So, in April 2022 by April 2021, the number of hotel bookings among corporate tourists increased by 2.3%. At the same time, this April there were more bookings and compared to March 2022 – by 5.2%. One of the positive factors may be that the average cost of hotel rooms is stable. Thus, in April 2022, the increase in value was only 0.3% compared to April 2021.
The palm in the number of hotel bookings in the corporate segment is held by Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Khabarovsk, Kazan , Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Krasnodar. In addition to Russia, companies also book hotels for their employees in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Israel, Belarus, Latvia, Armenia, Jordan, Azerbaijan and Turkey.