Stojakovic: Citizens mostly plan and pay for their trips in advance

Citizens are increasingly planning their annual vacations and tourist trips months in advance, with a large number of travel packages being booked even before the start of the summer season, said Nenad Stojakovic of the "Holiday Plus" travel agency in North Mitrovica. However, he noted that there is still a smaller number of travelers who decide to travel at the last minute.

Stojakovic pointed out that some travel packages at the agency had already been booked by the end of last year, citing as an example the strong interest among pensioners in vacations in Igalo.

"Our pensioners booked their vacations in Igalo on Black Friday, the last Friday of November last year. More than 130 people reserved their packages then. This shows that a significant portion of our travelers carefully plan their vacations and do not wait until the last minute. We had a large number of off-season bookings for trips taking place during the summer, so we cannot say that our tourists do not plan their annual vacations," Stojakovic told Kosovo Online.

He added that, despite this, there is also a group of travelers who book their package just one day before departure.

Speaking about changes in travel habits, Stojakovic said that the development of the internet and digital platforms has made it easier for people to organize trips on their own, but that travel agencies still play an important role.

"Today, people can organize trips almost anywhere in the world on their own, with or without the support of a travel agency. We live in the 21st century, and information is available to everyone. However, travel agencies have existed for more than 150 years. The first major travel agency, Thomas Cook, was founded in England in the mid-19th century. That shows there will always be people who want professionals to organize their trips, while others will prefer to plan everything themselves," he said.

According to him, there is also strong demand for organized group travel, both within the region and to European cities.

"We have a large number of organized groups. People travel on summer vacations to Greece and Montenegro, but we also organize group trips to European destinations such as Paris, and soon Rome. Such trips remain very popular," Stojakovic said.