Itaka: Leading the Way with Resabee in Poland’s Travel Industry

While only a few industries have been spared by the impact of the pandemic over the past three years, even fewer have been hit as hard as the travel and tourism industry. Many travel agencies admit that 2020 was probably the worst time in tourism history. Now, the sector has continued to recover from the crisis and the global sector’s rebound is led by the Middle East and Europe. According to the ‘Touroperators 2023’ report, Itaka has been holding the title of the industry leader in Poland.

Itaka and Resabee – a perfect fusion of travel industry leaders

Among various Polish travel agencies, Itaka has been leading in rapid growth after the pandemic. Their turnover in 2022 reached PLN 2.81 billion (1.63 bn in 2020) which is almost the same as in 2019 – 2.85 bn. In 2022, Itaka reported the highest revenue among all travel agencies operating in Poland. This is partly because of the partnership with Resabee – an innovative booking system for tourism-related businesses. Thanks to the Resabee platform, they are able to better serve customers’ needs and, most importantly, reach and retain more clients via the booking system. One of the most important features that have been the making of the success is Resabee’s Dynamic Packaging – the feature that allows customers to select their desired travel components so that the system can dynamically generate a custom package with real-time pricing and availability.

Is tourism back on track for full recovery?

During the first half of 2023, international tourist arrivals reached almost 84% of pre-pandemic levels. More and more people have been traveling and the number has been rapidly growing since the beginning of 2022. The recovery can be seen in every part of the world and all regions enjoyed strong rates of tourism recovery over the first months of 2023. It’s mostly driven by demand for international travel from the largest source markets such as the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. At the same time, most travel agents admit that they had to adapt and implement or improve travel industry solutions.

According to the UNWTO, over 900 million people traveled in 2022. This is double the number of 2021; however, it’s still much less than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Money spent on tourism has been increasing which results in some regions recovering faster than others.

Is Poland also recovering?

In 2020, the total value of the tourism economy in Poland was estimated at PLN 104.3 billion. This was 26.4% less when compared to 2019. Unfortunately, the pandemic wasn’t the only disaster that happened to Polish tourism – the beginning of the war in Ukraine resulted in a decline in bookings across the country. For over a year now, due to the persisting uncertainty of the multiple crises, the pace of tourism rebound in Poland has been hard to forecast.

What about travel agencies and international travel of Polish people? According to the Touroperators 2023 report, 2022 turned out to be better than expected despite the challenges. Traveling went back to normal a few months after the war in Ukraine started and once the COVID-19 restrictions were finally taken down, the tourism sector breathed a sigh of relief. Especially since the second quarter of 2022, the increase in bookings could be noticed. According to popular portals such as wakacje.pl, travelplanet.pl, and fly.pl, tourists were choosing Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt, Spain, and Tunisia the most often. The biggest peak in bookings was obviously reported during the summer months of 2022.

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