Tripsta Travel Trends: Romanians prefer August to travel, spend over 300 Euros for plane tickets and go to Greece

Consumption Habits, Marketing, Studies

This summer, Romanians preferred to book their travels mainly for August, spent over 300 Euros for flight tickets – second to Brits when it comes of money allocated to travel bookings – and headed for holidays mainly to Athens, Copenhagen and Istanbul, according to data on travelling provided by innovative online travel agency Tripsta.

According to Tripsta’s data for flight travel between June and August[1], most bookings were made in August (66%), with June bookings having a slight advance over July ones (18,6% vs 15.45%). When it comes of Romanians, the most popular week booked for travels was, this year, the 1st week of August (4-10), compared to last week of August last year, which might suggest they want to enjoy their holidays earlier before the start of a new work and school season.

On the other hand, Brits preferred mid-August (11-17) for travel this year, rather than the last week of the month, as they did last year. On the other hand, Turks and Poles decided their holidays will be in June (9-15) this year, much earlier than last year, when they opted for end of August. This summer, Greeks saved their travels for end of July (21-27) instead of end of August (26-1 Sep in 2013), while Russians delayed their holidays with only one week, choosing the third week of August instead of the 2nd week of the month, as they did last year.

Among Europeans using Tripsta to book their trips for the 3 main summer months this year, Brits spent the most, around 419 euro, but still less compared to last year (when they got out of their wallets over 500 euro). Next in line are the Romanians, with 332 euro for the picked flight in 2014, up from 309 euro last year, followed by Russians (323 euro for a ticket in 2014, down from 345 euro in 2013). Close to 300 Euros is also the amount the Turks (276 euro, down from 208 euro in 2013) and Poles (291 euro in 2014 compared to 302 euro last year) spent for booking their travels, while Greeks spent under Euro 250 for booking their travels this summer (down from 287 euro in 2013).

Brits give more attention to planning when booking their travel tickets and did that almost 2 months (53 days) before departure time this summer, after they needed only 17 days to book a travel last time. Turks and Russians booked their flights 32 days before the actual date of departure, while Romanians, Poles and Greeks needed over  a month and a week (between 37 and 44 days) to do the same thing.

When it comes of time allocated for travelling, Greeks decided to spend 12 days and Russians – 13, Poles went with a little over 2 weeks (15 days), Brits decided on 16 days for travel and holidays, while Romanians and Turks allocated the longest period – 17 days – to travelling and holiday s.

In terms of travel destinations, Romanians prefered this year to book travels to Athens, Copenhagen and Istanbul, but also to Lisbon, Vienna, Amsterdam, London and Madrid. Last year, Romanians mainly booked travels to Istanbul and London, Vienna, Amsterdam and Berlin.

Brits chose as their travel destinations, according to the bookings made via Tripsta, New York, Athens, London, Istanbul and Helsinki, Turks had London on their list, along with Moscow, Chisinau, Baku and Amsterdam, while Poles booked travels to Zurich, Belgrade, Atens, Copenhagen and London, but also localones (tGdansk, Krakow and Warsaw). Greeks preffered to book local travels (Thessaloniki, Athens, Rhodes, Larnaca or Heraklion) and same did Russians (choosing mainly Simferopol, Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, Mineralnye Vody and Adler / Sochi).

Tripsta is an innovative online travel agency currently operating in 30 countries. Through its websites, Tripsta offers travelers cheap flights and travel insurance all over the world. It all began in 2005 with the launch of Travelplanet24, the Greek branch of tripsta, when the CEO & Co-founder, Philipp Brinkmann, & Co-Founder Kristof Keim, decided to develop an online booking system and innovative web applications to the niche Greek online travel market. At the beginning of 2010, Travelplanet24 strategically decided to enter new European markets under the brand name Tripsta. Since then, Tripsta focused on brand building, innovation, technology and expansion.

[1] Data refers to flight bookings made on the Romanian market  between June 1st – August 31st 2014