‘We will have guests’: Tatarstan glamping sites expect almost full occupancy rate on New Year’s Eve

Bookings even for February now

Owners of Tatarstan glamping and camping sites are preparing to celebrate New Year’s eve and organise long winter holidays full swing. Some already have a 70% occupancy rate.

“For New Year’s Eve, it is from 31 December to 2 January. And the New Year holiday is 50% full,” glamping site owner Gleb Kuznetsov (Sviyaga Glamp) told Realnoe Vremya during Sales and Facility Occupancy Rate in Winter forum.

По его словам, первые бронирования начались еще в августе.

According to him, the first bookings were made as early as August.

“By late October we understood we already had bookings for mid-January and even February,” added Kuznetsov.

The glamping site owner added they already have bookings for mid-January and even February.

“We are located next to Sviyaga Hills ski resort. Of course, such a neighbour helps us. But we created our own holiday programme for the guests ourselves. The market is becoming more compact, and more effort has to be put so that people come to you,” explained Kuznetsov.

The competition is growing, indeed. As head of the Directorate for Natural Territories of the Tatarstan Urban Development Institution Fund Oksana Sargina reminded the audience, “the number of modern facilities alone in Tatarstan increased from six in 2020 to 43 in 2023.”

“Any celebration, holiday, weekend is a profitable day for us,” agreed owner of Urban camp Ilnar Khamidullin agreed.

This is the fourth winter as glamping site owner for him. He isn’t concerned about the occupancy rate of his facility for New Year’s Eve.

“If we take New Year’s Eve and the holidays in general, our occupancy rate is around 35%. But I think we will have guests on the holidays. A full occupancy rate is bad too. If something goes wrong, breaks down, out of service, there will be no place to accommodate the guests. A 70-80% occupancy rate is optimal for us. We had 71% last month,” Khamidullin added.

“The first calls about New Year’s Even started as early as 31 August”

Alla Kulagina (Forest and River glamping site) also hopes for a 80% occupancy rate for the New Year holidays.

Alla Kulagina (Forest and River glamping site) also hopes for a 80% occupancy rate for the New Year holidays. realnoevremya.ru/Maxim Platonov

“The first calls about New Year’s Even started as early as 31 August. But we opened bookings only on 1 November. We already have 30% of bookings. But we need as little as 80% occupancy to earn a little,” she said.

Owner of Yurt-resort glamping site Rimma Yakupova said that at this stage about 30% of their sites were booked.

“People started to actively call us by mid-December last year. I think the same will happen this year,” the glamping site owner forecasts.

However, analysts of Bnovo company developing software for the hotel industry say the amount of early bookings increased.

“The Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan are demonstrating a good rise. Accommodation in winter was booked in advance,” noted leading business development manager of the company Alina Nikolayeva. She added that this year the date of New Year’s Even coincided with the weekend and this provided hoteliers an additional bonus.

It should be reminded that earlier Kazan was in a rating of cities Russian citizens would like to visit during winter holidays in 2024. SuperJob research results confirm this.