Ukraine's largest tour operator Join UP! starts operations in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia

  • 2022-04-19

Starting April 14, Join UP! opens sales in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - booking of tours to Turkey is already available, and until the end of April sales of tours to Montenegro, Albania and the Greek islands of Zakynthos, Crete and Corfu will also be opened. The leader of the Ukrainian tourism market serves about a million travellers a year and the opening of the Join Up Baltic office in Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius is one of the stages of international expansion.

There are about 50 destinations in the portfolio of the tour operator - both to well-known resorts in Turkey, Egypt and Greece, as well as new destinations for the Baltic market. In the winter season of 2022/2023, the tour operator plans to expand flights to include Sri Lanka and Zanzibar. The company points out that this will also have a positive impact on the overall development of the Baltic tourism market. 

"I am pleased to be able to represent not only the first Ukrainian tourism operator in our market, but also one of the industry leaders with great competence and experience. Extensive preparations have been made to take this step, combining experience, a strong product with our understanding of the local market. At the same time, I feel a huge responsibility, because we all know what Ukraine is going through right now and starting a business in the Baltics is an opportunity to keep jobs for Ukrainians, an opportunity to support the country's economy, since Ukraine is currently fighting for the future of all of us,” says Join Up Baltic head Gediminas Kerys.

The summer flight program will be launched simultaneously in Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. In the first season with the slogan “Baltics, it’s time to join!” the company offers the following destinations - Turkey, Montenegro, Albania and the Greek islands - Zakynthos, Crete and Corfu. The share of guaranteed hotels in a number of destinations reaches 80%, which means immediate confirmation even during the high season.

Flights from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to Turkey will be carried out on the aircraft of the Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines under the certificate of the Turkish airline Tailwind. The average age of the SkyUp Airlines fleet is 14,5 years. This is one of the newest fleets on the Baltic charter market.

Yuriy Alba, co-founder of the tour operator in Ukraine: “We are very pleased to represent Ukraine in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. We hope that the market will accept us into the family and respond with support for the new player. We are sure that the variety of destinations and formats of recreation that we are preparing for you will bring some novelty to the Baltic market, and our rich expertise in the creation and development of tourism products and our new fleet will contribute to the transformation of the travel industry and the acquisition of new tourism experience. After all, we believe that the impressions and positive emotions that travel gives are much more valuable than materialistic items, which is why our mission is to involve as many people as possible in travel.”

Tourism operator Join UP! was established in 2010 and in 10 years has become one of the largest players in the tourism market in Ukraine. The partner network of the company in Ukraine includes more than 7,000 travel agents and about 130 agencies. The head office of the company is located in Kyiv. Regional offices are represented in Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Lviv. International offices and partner networks are also represented in Moldova and Kazakhstan. Join Up Baltic bureaus have opened in Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. The tour operator plans to open a network of hotels in Ukraine and abroad.

Strategic partner of the parent company Join UP! - Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines. In May 2022, the carrier will celebrate its 4th anniversary of operation, and its fleet will include 15 Boeing-737 medium-haul aircraft. In 2021, the airline carried more than 2.5 million passengers, becoming the second among Ukrainian airlines in terms of the number of flights performed in the airspace of Ukraine. SkyUp is also one of the most dynamic airlines in Europe in terms of the speed of route network development (data from The Anker Report). The tour operator, airline and hotels are part of a single UP Family ecosystem.