May 3, 2020 - Looking ahead to next year, the easyJet holidays 2021 offers are out. How is Croatia comparing on price?
One of the many great unknowns about post-corona tourism is price. What is fairly certain is that there will be less flights and less tourism in general. That will necessarily mean more competition from tourism countries for a piece of the smaller remaining pie. And of the various tools available to entice visitors at the lower end of the market, none will be more in evidence than...
Price.
Traditionally, Croatia does not do well on price comparisons with other tourism countries in the Mediterranean. That is a subject for another time, but it is clear that the days of easy tourism are over - at least for now - and if Croatia is to compete in the general tourism market, it is going to have to reassess its strategies on price.
A reader sent me an email today with some offers for easyJet holiday 2021, which he subscribed to. My heart missed a beat when I looked at the first one until I saw the date of the offer.
A family of three from the UK for a week to a 5-star resort on the water in Turkey, all-inclusive including price, for £895 total, or £299 per person. With a deposit of just £60 per person.
To repeat - return flights, transfers, 7 nights in a 5-star hotel on the water, with all food included. For less than £300 a person.
I checked the date and remembered to breathe - April 22 - 29, 2021. Very much shoulder season.
So how did the price compare in peak season? I chose the week of July 1 - 8, 2021. More than double the price at £614 per person, but still a pretty good deal for peak season holiday in a 5-star hotel with all food taken care of, as well as flights and transfers.
I have never looked at easyJet for anything but flights before, so I decided to explore the easyJet holidays 2021 offer to see how Croatia was comparing with its early pricing for next year.
easyJet is a significant player in the Croatian market, carrying more than 600,000 passengers last year.
Not enough to make the enticing homepage advert imagining where easyJet could be taking you in 2021 - that was reserved for Iceland, Amsterdam, Tunisia and Turkey.
So how does Croatia compare on price for those same dates - July 1 - 8, 2020? I went to the Croatia section and chose the Split region. The competition from Turkey, remember, was a 5-star resort, all-inclusive with flights and transfers - for £614 per person for a family of three.
The Split region's cheapest option only offered bed and breakfast, not all-inclusive, was 4-star not 5, and was £50 more expensive.
The fourth-cheapest option was on the Makarska Riviera, was also one star lower in quality with only breakfast on offer. And was almost twice the price of £1,150.
In order to standardise the research, I decided to go for one type of holiday, all-inclusive of everything - flights, transfers, hotel and meals, and to see the two cheapest countries for several competing countries, as well as Croatia. Here is what I found (same dates - July 1-8, 2021).
Croatia the cheapest all-inclusive was cheaper than my 5-star Turkish example above, at £601, but was only 3-star. The next cheapest was considerably more expensive, and only 4-star.
And if you are prepared to slum it in a 4-star hotel, you can do it at half the price in Turkey. Yes that's right, a peak season July 1-8, 2021 holiday in a 4-star Turkish hotel with flight, transfer and all food, for just £358 per person.
Meanwhile in Greece, the 4-star all-inclusive deals are a little more expensive than Turkey, but a lot cheaper than Croatia.
And in neighbouring Budva, easyJet holidays 2021 had jsut two offers, but you can get 5-star bed and breakfast in Budva for £565, or 4-star all-inclusive in Tivat for £663.
Over in Spain, the 3-star all-inclusives can be had for under £500.
And in Portugal, the 4-star offers are the cheapest on sale, and cheaper than the Croatian equivalent.
Not surprisingly, for those who follow Croatian tourism closely, the most expensive offer in this admittedly limited random sample came from Croatia.
Is that a problem? At this point no, as there are so many things and factors which could change everything again several times between now and next summer.
But it is something that tourism planners and businesses at the cheaper end of the market need to be keenly aware of if they want to keep some semblance of market share. The tourism business has changed, and the competition in the future will be fierce.
You can do your own easyJet holidays 2021 research on the official website.
For more on tourism in Croatia, follow the TCN travel section.
