TimeServices Global General Manager Sezgin Özer assessed currency swings, post-earthquake effects, and flight disruptions weighing on the Russian market in spring 2023.
In a spring 2023 interview with industry outlet GM Tourism, TimeServices Global General Manager Sezgin Özer assessed the state of the Russian market. He pointed first to currency movement as a major factor: the euro, which had closed the previous season around 58 lira, was trading around 91 lira at the time — a shift that fed directly into hotel pricing, with rates up 30-40% season over season.
Sezgin Özer also addressed the impact of the 6 February earthquake, estimating that the sector had lost roughly 50 days of activity in its aftermath, and described changes in flight routing and cost driven by fuel prices — the Minsk route, for example, had stretched to 5.5-6 hours, and Moscow flights were running roughly an hour longer than before due to rerouting.
He noted that 25 direct flights from Russia had been cancelled within a single week, a disruption that, combined with the currency and pricing pressure, was translating into a serious decline in April and May demand for the market overall.