The canceled or delayed flights of low-cost airlines represented the biggest challenge this year, said the president of the National Association of Travel Agencies, Alin Burcea, in a press conference.
The summer of 2024 was marked by an extremely high number of canceled and delayed flights
“Among the challenges of 2024, delays and cancellations should be mentioned first. Like this year, I don’t think there have ever been flights that were delayed like this. Certain companies with very high volume had the lack of common sense not to even announce the passengers were arriving at the airport and were told that the flight was canceled or delayed. It was really a joke. And there were many canceled flights. And you realize that if a low cost company has canceled flights , he doesn’t have the obligation to give you an alternative and you wake up like the guy with the canceled flight and you have to find a solution. I kept saying that there is only one solution, namely a ticketing agent. Because if an agent sends you the ticket , and if it’s canceled, he finds solutions for you, he doesn’t leave you. Especially since cancellations have reached somewhere between 10-20% of flights.”Burcea declared for Romanian media representatives during an info-trip organized by the Paralela 45 agency in Antalya (Turkey), according to Agerpres.
He also complained about the “unfair competition” practiced by some airlines that try to attract tourists directly, bypassing travel agencies: “And there are companies that directly attack customers, who say “don’t go to the agencies, come directly to us”. It is unfair competition and the Competition Council should take measures”.
Burcea emphasized that he had to make a selection of airlines at Parallel 45 “serious”which is based on a well-established flight schedule.
He also announced the new charter routes that will be launched in 2025 by Paralela 45: Brasov-Chania, Timişoara-Chania, Timişoara-Tenerife, Oradea-Mallorca and Oradea-Larnaca.
Ioana Burcea, marketing manager at Paralela 45, stated that, starting in 2025, the agency will implement artificial intelligence in the process of booking tourist packages.
“The year 2025 is an anniversary for us, with 35 years of activity, in which we will launch a new site. A complex site and I hope it will be the “eMAG of tourism”, in which we will have new functions, with geolocation, an account of integrated client, with invoice system and payment in installments, because we will have the possibility of payment in up to 16 installments. We’re launching a Black Friday offer right now with vacation pay in 16 installments. This information will be found in the new site. And we will implement a chatbot, and the virtual travel agent will be called Ioana. Our goal is not to replace the travel agent through AI, the druid will aim to ease our work, to interact with the client, because many clients do not know exactly what they want, or where they want to go, and they need an additional consultation. We will streamline the consulting part until the contact with the agent”, declared Ioana Burcea.
Regarding the agency’s Black Friday campaign this year, Ioana Burcea specified that discounts on certain vacation packages during this period will reach up to 47%.
“The Black Friday campaign has November, December, New Year’s and Christmas circuits as sale categories, spring circuits, stays and vacation packages for 2025, and super offers in Lapland. Depending on the category, we have discounts between 45 and 47% on certain packages”she mentioned.
Ondina Dobriban, general manager of Paralela 45, stated that one of the agency’s goals in 2025 is to increase by 50% the number of tourists who purchase circuits.
“Circuits are our specialty and for 2025 we have a rather ambitious target, namely a 50% increase. It is not small, considering that circuits are a complex product. We started making circuits 35 years ago and have reached 160 itineraries and over 600 groups per year. It’s a huge responsibility, because we’re also talking about some destinations you can’t get to twice in your life.”Dobriban said.
