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Novaturas reports record-high early bookings for the summer season

 

Increased popularity of travel creates an impression, that many Baltic States citizens celebrated New Year’s Eve resting after a travel, traveling or planning a new trip. Novaturas, the largest tour operator in the Baltics which plans to debut on stock exchanges in Warsaw and Vilnius in 2018, has noticed record-breaking customer activity compared to the previous year's results. Early-bookings for the upcoming summer season have almost doubled.

It seems that travel demand for the summer season of 2018 is booming even when compared to the previous highly active year. The last three months, in comparison with the same period in 2016, shows that Novaturas’ customers purchased 84% more travel tickets for the summer season of 2018. This means that more than 61 thousand Baltic States’ citizens have already planned their summer holidays abroad. 

“More and more people can afford going for holidays abroad or they can go more frequently during a year. Also spending on holidays is growing. These result from the very strong macroeconomic situation in the Baltics. Going for holidays abroad people get a guarantee of good weather. We’ve noticed that more our clients are planning their holidays in advance than ever before,” - says Linas Aldonis, General Manager of Novaturas.

According to the head of Novaturas, this year the “last minute” hunters will not have many reasons to be happy, as early booking travel sales are extremely high in all travel agencies, some of the most popular resort hotels are already almost full for the summer. Novaturas has 30% of its 2018 entire summer programme already sold.

Travelers also seem to appreciate advantages of the early booking. It ensures the greater variety of travels and hotels options and the lowest prices. Customers also value the fact that travel time and direction could be changed free of charge. Initial payment is also quite small. 

Early-bookings have been growing rapidly in all Baltic States over the last three years. There were 20 thousand people who booked their 2016 summer holidays in advance (as of end-December of the preceding year). These numbers increased to almost 33 thousand for 2017 summer holidays and to 61 thousand for 2018 summer holidays. Lithuania remains the major market out of all three Baltic States. In Lithuania alone early-bookings increased by 120% for 2018 summer season. Lithuanians have already purchased 34.9 thousand travels for this season.

Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt and Spain remain the most popular holiday destinations among the travellers from the Baltics. “These countries are especially appreciated by the families as they satisfy the various interests of travellers: relaxing next to the pool or the sea and sunbathing. People who prefer active holidays can travel around the area or enjoy the water attractions”, - says L. Aldonis. 

While talking about Lithuanians, last year introduced Croatia and Montenegro destinations also appeared to be very popular. Their sales are increasing most of all - 155% more trips are planned for these countries in 2018. Morocco is also trending - twice more trips are planned to this destination for this year. 

Lithuanians are also actively traveling during the cold weather season. Although the winter season is only on its’ half way, Novaturas already sold twice as much trips as it was in the previous year for this season.

“Lithuanians desire to travel exceeds our expectations, we order additional flights and book more places in the popular hotels, however those who are planning last minute trips will have only limited travel options”, - says L. Aldonis.

Many Lithuanians choose warm climate countries for the winter season. “Lithuanians long for the sun after a quite cold summer, therefore sales for trips in warm climate countries increased. 125% more travel tickets were sold to Egypt, sales for trips to distant exotic countries doubled, while skiing trips increased by 15%”, - says L. Aldonis. The most popular winter destinations are Egypt, Thailand and Vietnam.

2018 will be an exceptional year for Novaturas. Company plans to debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Vilnius Stock Exchange. “Novaturas is the leader in attractive tourist market in the Baltics, with highly recognizable brand, transparent and effective business model, delivering profitable growth and paying out dividends to the shareholders regularly. Thus it is a very attractive investment opportunity both for institutional and retail investors”, - Novaturas CEO Linas Aldonis said. 

About the company

Novaturas is the largest tour operator in the Baltic States. The company has been operating in the market since 1999 and owns brands „Novaturas“, „ECO travel“, „Novaturas Gold“, „Sofa travel“, „Novatours“,  „Novaturo šeimos klubas“, „Eco Travel Mažų kainų specialistas“, „Travel on Spot“ and „DMC Baltic Experts“. It offers tours to more than 30 destinations worldwide, ranging from all European mainstream destinations to selective holiday spots in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Latin America.

These materials are for promotional purposes only and under no circumstances shall constitute the basis for a decision to invest in the shares of Novaturas AB (the “Company”). A prospectus, when approved by the Bank of Lithuania – the Lithuanian capital markets authority together with the Polish, Lithuanian and Estonian translations of the summary and notified to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority and Estonian Financial Supervision Authority, will be the sole legally binding document containing information on the Company and the offering of the Company’s securities in Poland, in Lithuania and in Estonia as well as on their admission and introduction to trading on regulated markets organized by the Warsaw Stock Exchange and by AB Nasdaq Vilnius and which, when published, will be obtained from the website of the Company (https://www.novaturas.lt/) as well as the website of Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski S.A. Oddział – Dom Maklerski PKO Banku Polskiego(http://www.dm.pkobp.pl/) and Swedbank AB (www.swedbank.lt) (for information purposes only).

These materials are not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, or in other countries where the public dissemination of the information contained herein may be restricted or prohibited by law. They do not constitute an offer of securities for sale or an invitation to subscribe for or purchase securities.

These materials are not an offer of securities for sale, or the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities, in the United States. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933.

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