Travel agents, hotels and restaurants clean up on Millennium celebrations
For those who want a truly memorable year 2000 celebration, Finnair thinks it has just the thing: A four-day excursion complete with a reindeer safari, iceberg tours, Indian festivals and the obligatory sleigh ride.
For $852-$1,000 a person, Varsovians can celebrate the millennium in Lapland, the northernmost reaches of Scandinavia. The price includes flights on Finnair, four days of accommodation, the aforementioned reindeer safari, a course in snowmobiles and sleigh rides pulled by husky dogs. The trip includes visits to theme parks and cruises along icebreakers as well as cultural celebrations with the native Indian Saame tribes of the region.
To take part, though, individuals had to have reservations by now, as Finnair's Lapland tour has been sold out since September.
"For the millennium, we're fully booked up there," said Pekka Immonen, general manager at Finnair. He refused to disclose how many people are going or how many places were available.
A host of other exotic locations are also available for the New Year, such as Ving's package tour to Cyprus, Morocco, Tunisia and Thailand. For those who have to man the shop during the holidays or for whom Y2K bug meltdown concerns make traveling less appealing, Warsaw's hotels and restaurants are also joining in the festivities. For a (steep) price, residents can stay in the city and welcome in the millennium at the Sheraton's "Back to the Future" gala, the Marriott's two balls or theme dinners at upscale restaurants. For a more casual night, Champion's Sports Bar's party will feature a live band, DJ and buffet, along with a zl. 800 price tag.
In general, prices for all events are hiked up to 30% for the millennium celebration and airline tickets are also inflated more than is normal during the holidays, according to tour operators, hotels and restaurants. Despite the cost, many establishments are already booked out and travel operators also said that they typically had only a few places left for their package tours.
Finnair's Lapland trip, which the airline has offered for several years, is actually the exception to the rule in that it is priced at the normal rate for the millennium. What is unusual, though, is the level of interest the airline saw in the tour this year, Immonen said, which corresponds to growing interest in the region from Poles. He said that 44,000 Poles stayed overnight in Lapland in 1998, a 300% increase from 1997. That figure is set to double by 2001.
Immonen was unable to say specifically how many Poles had signed up for the trip this year, except that the interest was up significantly over last year. "It's an ongoing thing, but it's a special occasion this year, and there's big festivity in the northern parts," he said.
Travel agency Ving has been touting package tours in sunnier climes than Lapland, or Warsaw for that matter. The company's special New Year's Eve parties in its hotels in Cyprus, Morocco, Tunisia and Thailand, which include celebratory dinners, music and fireworks, have all sold out, said Malgorzata Smolinska, a press office representative at Ving's public relations agency First Public Relations.
"It was difficult to find something a month ago, now you can only choose from among a few hotels" in remaining locations in Egypt and the Canary Islands, she said.
While she said that a trip is "more expensive" this New Year's Eve, with one week in Cyprus, including air fare, accommodation and party at around zl. 2,000 per person, the price is still cheaper than in July. She could not say how much more expensive the trip was for the year 2000, but said the rate drops to zl. 1,400 in January.
Another travel agency, INT Express, has sold 70% of its millennium tickets for package tours to Thailand and expects to get rid of the lot by mid-December, said Sylwia Debowska, the firm's tourism director. However, both airlines running the flights, Hungary's Malev, and LOT Polish Airlines have jacked their fares up to $1,458 and $1,600 from the standard yearly price of $1,200 a head, said Jolanta Kacprzak, tourism specialist at INT Express.
INT Express is also operating package deals to Tunisia and Egypt for the new year, but Thailand remains the most popular destination, said Karina Skurtys, who works in the firm's marketing department. "Thailand is quite cheap right now For the millennium it's not that high, not as much as in Europe," she said.
Despite the fact that events in Thailand, depending on the hotel, won't see any huge millennium-style celebrations, apart from New Year's Eve gala dinners, demand is still very high, she said.
Y2K fete or threat?
The stampede is not being felt by everyone, however. Some airlines said that millennium-bug worries are keeping many people at home despite the exotic promotions. LOT, for example, canceled its flights on Jan. 1 to avoid any potential problems.
"This millennium travel is quite a puzzle," said Ole Johansson, general manager at SAS Scandinavian Airlines. "I don't know if there is big demand or lower than normal, but many people have been told to stay home because of possible problems in different companies."
SAS has its own New Year's special, a weekend break in Copenhagen that includes accommodation and breakfast, but the package does not feature any special itinerary or price break. Instead, like other airlines, SAS upped its charge for the package to $292 from its standard $269, Johansson said. Demand for the trip, however, has not been great, he said, and the airline is not scheduling any extra flights.
"It's up to individual passengers, but it's an offer that can be used," he said. "We have quite a few adjustments in our traffic program for Christmas and the New Year. This is normally the case, but I haven't seen demand that warrants extra capacity."
Millennium bug concerns have also increased interest in the in-city galas several hotels are hosting.
"A lot of people are staying in town ... and they want to be close to their business and see that everything is Y2K compliant," said Richard Lion, general manager of the Marriott. "There's still that little seed of doubt in their minds."
Partying in Warsaw
Lion said that in previous years, the Marriott normally did not even start selling tickets to its New Year's Eve bash yet. But this year the two main parties at the hotel were sold out by the end of October, in spite of their zl. 1,300 a person charge. Two events companies, Radio Kolor and Impressa, rented out both ballrooms at the Marriott and have sold 800 tickets collectively. Another event is taking up the hotel's four restaurants, he said.
"Ticket sales have been phenomenal," Lion said. He said the hotel was trying to free up some extra space for the events to accommodate more revelers. "It's not just the Marriott. I think everything's sold out it's obviously very special."
He said that it was difficult to compare the charge for this year's event with last year's as the two parties are completely different.
Hotel Forum is also capitalizing on the evening's significance by hosting Miss Poland 1999, presented by actor and singer Dariusz Kordek, said Joanna Sobiech, competition specialist at Missland, the company organizing the event. The event will also feature a fashion show and a teenage Miss Poland competition held in the evening. With 600 tickets, also priced at zl. 1,300, she said she expected all of the places to be sold by the first week of November.
Katarzyna Gontarczyk, public relations manager at the Sheraton Warsaw Hotel & Towers, echoed the jubilation over ticket sales. The Sheraton has sold out its 600, zl. 1,400-priced tickets for its "Back to the Future" themed shindig and is in the process of trying to adapt an extra floor to accommodate an additional 100 guests, she said. Currently 50 people are on a waiting list for the gala, many of which are repeat customers from the hotel's "Golden 20s" 1998 New Year's Eve party. The price this year includes food, drink and entertainment.
"The pricing is really reasonable," she said. "It's not a cheap event, but quality is not cheap either."
To this end, the Sheraton's festivities will feature five musical acts including a 30-strong dance band from Poznan, called Gorny, and the rock-and-roll group Act, from the TVP1 program "Jaka to Melodia" (Name That Tune). As well as the more elegant surroundings of the hotel's ballroom dinner dance, guests will also have access to a disco, a laser show and be served by staff dressed in futuristic costumes, Gontarczyk said. In addition, fortune tellers will be on hand to read the palms of guests ready to try their luck in an accompanying casino.
"We thought about it two years ago to make it the best possible show with the best bands and the best quality entertainment," she said. "We knew there would be great demand and a lot more events than average."
Last minute plans
While the hotels seem to have already cleaned up, some of Warsaw's top restaurants are further behind in preparation. At the end of October, Restaurant 99, beloved of Warsaw's beautiful people, was still unsure about its plans.
"Currently the company is looking at something for us regarding New Year's Eve," said Trevor Lee, 99's general manager. "Last year's do wasn't as successful as we would've liked, so we're looking at this very carefully, it's still 50-50," he said.
Despite the fact that a number of expats will be leaving the city for the holidays, many inhabitants will still want to celebrate, and Lee said that the restaurant had received many inquiries as to whether 99 was putting on a party.
While Restaurant 99 is mulling over the possibilities, Champions Sports Bar has already come up with its celebratory event and dispensed with all of the tickets. Champions sold all 200 of its zl. 800 per head tickets for its Sylwester event, which will include a band, a DJ, a choice of food ranging from Polish to Tex-Mex, as well as a cake buffet and an array of beverages, said Marek Mroz, restaurant manager. At the same time, upscale restaurant the Boat House is putting on a five-course "Mediterranean feast," including an open bar, music, souvenirs and presents for guests, said Jacek Ukwenya, the restaurant's manager. Tickets are going for zl. 900 per person, and right now 103 of 130 places have been reserved and the rest are going quickly, Ukwenya said.
But other top eateries are staying shut on the day. Pawel Resiak, manager at Restauracja Polska, said that the establishment would be closed on New Year's Eve.
"There's no room for dancing the hotels have the big halls," he said. "We have no conditions for doing these sorts of things."
