Page 44 - bne_May 2021_20210501

44 I Southeast Europe bne May 2021
With popular European destinations closed to tourists, Balkan holidaymakers are heading for the Maldives instead.
COVID cabin fever creates
a middle class Balkan jetset
Exotic offers
As traditionally popular destinations in Europe – Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Rome – are closed for Macedonian tourists for the time being, travel agencies in the country are offering Dubai, Egypt, the Maldives and the Dominican Republic among other exotic destinations, which are attracting quite a lot of interest amid the craziness of the lockdowns.
Since many people have already survived the virus, or simply do not feel afraid to travel, this is a unique opportunity to escape reality and try something new, which otherwise they would not have a chance to do.
Prices, according to sector pundits, are affordable even for the middle class.
A normal family with average net income of €460 can afford one such trip, at least one in a lifetime. The amount people from North Macedonia spend on foreign travel increased sharply in the years immediately before the pandemic. According the Knoema statistics platform, outbound tourism from North Macedonia was worth $282mn in 2019, up 8.9% from a year earlier. This followed a 25.1% increase in 2018, the biggest rise in the last ten years. Naturally, outbound travel slumped in 2020, while domestic tourism did better as people took holidays in their home countries.
The government adopted several economic packages for firms and people to alleviate the consequences of the pandemic, but outbound tour operators were not a priority as the help was mostly intended for firms that bring tourists to local cities. The sector, which employs about 10,000 people, was left without state assistance during the crisis, said one industry insider who preferred to remain anonymous.
A recent survey on the consequences of the pandemic for the tourism sector in North Macedonia supported by USAID showed that there is no firm which was not affected, pointing to the need for state help to support these companies. 83% of the polled firms expected revenues to drop by over 50% in the last quarter of 2020. Travel agencies account for 10% of all companies in North Macedonia’s tourism sector.
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
As Serbian hospitals were filling up with coronavirus (COVID-19) patients again, provocative Instagram photos of Serbian singer Jelena Karleusa, known as “Lady Gaga of Serbia”, sunning herself in Dubai appeared on Instagram. With much of Europe under lockdown amid the latest wave of the pandemic, Karleusa shared poses of herself in skimpy bikinis and in front of the iconic Burj Al Arab with her 2.4mn followers.
But it’s not only celebrities and the very rich who are taking exotic vacations. Travel agencies from the ex-Yugoslavia region report strong interest in destinations such as Dubai, Egypt and the Maldives as long haul holidays have become affordable for the growing middle class – not only in prosperous Slovenia, but in lower income aspiring EU members such as North Macedonia and Serbia. And after more than a year of fear, stress and boredom, people are more than ready to spend money on the holiday of a lifetime.
www.bne.eu
The long haul option has been a lifeline for the distressed outbound travel industry too. With most European destinations closed to visitors during the latest lockdowns, enterprising travel agencies from the Balkans have been opening up further flung destinations to an eager audience from the region.
“People are tired of all the restrictions and staying at home so they are ready to get their life and freedom back. That's why they want to travel again,” director of one of the most popular Slovenian tourist agencies, Lifetime experience, Lado Rot, said in comments emailed to bne IntelliNews.
Long, sunny and sandy beaches on the other side of the world are all the more enticing now that European destinations are closed. And the travel agencies are offering plenty of destinations from Zanzibar and the Maldives to Dubai
and Mexico, as after a dismal 2020 they reorientate from the near neighbourhood to long haul destinations, many of which allow entry with a PCR test.