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Dear Subscriber,

Finally, Russia is coming out of recession and the summer of 2017 is forecasted to show a good recovering in visitor numbers. Many tour operators have however learnt their lesson of focusing too much on a few destinations and we see the large Russian players expanding the number of destinations that they offer. There is less focus on Turkey, the diversification is partly a business decision, but also due to the increased maturity of the market and an increase in demand for new products and experiences. Nevertheless, Turkey is still likely to be the overall no. 1 destination in terms of visitor numbers, followed by Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Bulgaria.

However, the selection of a destination and booking process is changing fundamentally, especially for younger, more tech savvy ‘Millennials’ who prefer to go on social media to find out more about holiday destinations and book their flights and accommodation online. Moreover, they are no longer restricted to traditional hotels and many of them use Airbnb and other kinds of holiday rentals, to ensure a more cost-effective trip, which they manage by themselves without the assistance of a traditional travel agency. However neither the travel agency, nor the tour operators are dead, but they do have to invest heavily in digital capabilities to stay ahead of the game.