Tour operator Join UP! Baltic served 72% more customers in 2023 compared to 2022

Tour operator Join UP! Baltic served more than 103 thousand customers in the Baltic States in 2023, which is 72% more than the previous year, strengthening its position in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In total, the tour operator organised more than 500 trips to destinations such as Egypt, Turkey, Montenegro, Spain and Sri Lanka in 2023, and expanded its range of destinations twice.  

Analyzing travel trends, Turkey emerged as the most popular summer destination, followed by Egypt for both summer and winter seasons. Montenegro, Tenerife, and Sri Lanka also attracted significant interest. Addressing the preferences of Baltic travelers, they are always looking for positive emotions and experience, and are very demanding in terms of high-quality service at the best price. The average sum travellers spent for a trip per person was 665 eur in 2023. In 2023, it was observed that people over 50 are traveling more in the Baltic states (8% growth), and more people are choosing to travel solo (15% of all travelers), which aligns with general trends in the travel industry in 2023. 

Sabina Saikovskaja, CEO and Member of the Board of Join UP! Baltic commenting on travellers' habits, says: “Most of our customers still prefer to revisit a familiar destination, familiar resorts. However, the desire for new destinations, accessible exotics is emerging and growing among Baltic travellers. So we are gradually adding new destinations: last year we saw a great interest in the Balkan pearl Montenegro, and at the end of the year we observed a demand for the exotic and started offering affordable exotic travel to Sri Lanka with the only direct flight from all three Baltic capitals. The biggest success in the first two months for this destination has been in Lithuania, where we added 50% more flights from February due to the high demand,” S.Saikovskaja adds.  

Commenting on the company's performance and future outlook, Sabina Saikovskaja highlights the resilience of the travel industry amid economic challenges and changing travel patterns. "We've observed that people are unwilling to give up their travel, as they were compelled to do during the Covid pandemic. Exploring the world and enjoying holidays with friends or family are important aspects of maintaining the quality of life. And people in the Baltic countries want to travel not just once per year, but twice and more times per year. For example, in Estonia, the record times our client travelled with us in 2022-2023 was 11.”  

Sabina Saikovskaja says that in the second year of its operation, the company followed a steady development plan: "Our goal is to continue strengthening our position in the Baltic market, to keep up with market demand, to offer a wider range of destinations, implement innovations. We will continue to offer both the most requested and popular destinations and introduce new travel possibilities for Baltic travelers – for example, by offering the only one direct flight to the affordable exotic destination Sri Lanka from Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn, offering Egypt also during summer, bringing new hotels to the market that are available only from Join UP! Join UP! Baltic will add new destinations to the selection from offering Cyprus and Tunisia from Vilnius, and Greece from all Baltic countries in this summer. The ultimate aim is to be the most beloved tour operator for customers in the Baltic states. In 2024, we plan to increase the volume by 32%." 

"As a relatively new tour operator, we are going the extra mile and we implement innovative solutions both in customer service and in offering a competitive package travel service. We already have our own app where you can purchase a trip, and now, we are the first in the Baltic States who offer live customer service through popular messengers such as Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct, Telegram, and Viber – a "Guide in the pocket”. With this service, every traveler can communicate with us, receive answers and get assistance and support on the go during the trip. This helps to ensure good service and it works and helps us to reach our goals. Statistics show that we provide a high level of service quality: out of more than 103 thousand customers we have served, we have received only 0.5% of complains," notes S.Saikovskaja.

 Since April 2022, Join UP! Baltic has been providing tourism services in the Baltics, operating with local teams in Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius. Saikovskaja emphasized that while the brand retains its Ukrainian roots, all business processes are created and managed by the professional local team. Currently, the Baltic team consists of 52 tourism professionals who work in Join UP! Baltic offices in Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn.  

The company's goal is to become one of the leaders in the Baltic tourism market and most loved tour operator by offering a modern, high-quality product, introducing new travel destinations, and embracing innovations.  

Currently, tour operators are under the Join UP!™ brand operate in  Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Kazakhstan and Moldova,. Internationally, Join UP!™ offers more than 40 diverse tourist destinations. New Join UP!™ tour operator is to open in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2024. In 2023, across the eight markets where Join UP! operates, annual growth rates are ranging from 3-10% were observed. The tour operators are poised for steady growth in all these markets.