Russian tourists made 7 million trips abroad for the purpose of tourism from January to September, which is 50% more than in the same period a year earlier, the total number of foreign trips increased by 20.5% and amounted to 21 million, reports the Russian Union of Travel Industry ( RST) with reference to data from the Border Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Interfax reports.
“From January to September, Russians made 7.06 million foreign trips for the purpose of tourism, which is 50.2% more than in the same period in 2022 (4.7 million), but half as much as in pre-pandemic 2019 (14, 08 million). The total number of trips abroad for all purposes from January to September amounted to 21 million. This is 23% more than in the first nine months of 2022 (17.1 million),” the report says.
As the PCT reminds, outbound tourism indicators are still far from pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, the number of tourist trips abroad in the first three quarters amounted to 14.08 million, and departures for all purposes – 35.2 million.
“The top three tourist destinations have not changed compared to 2022 – Turkey (3.4 million trips), UAE (922.6 thousand), Egypt (739.2 thousand). All three countries received significantly more Russian tourists than a year earlier – by 24%, 68% and 50.7%, respectively. There are changes among other countries in the top ten. Thailand (519.7 thousand) and China (135.9 thousand) returned to the leaders, the Maldives and Serbia left. Among the five CIS countries included in the ranking last year, Armenia (335.9 thousand), Uzbekistan (121.9 thousand), Azerbaijan (116.9 thousand) and Kazakhstan (113.3 thousand) retained their positions, and Kyrgyzstan dropped to 13th place. And for the first time, Cuba entered the top 10 destinations of Russian tourism (93.9 thousand),” notes the RCT.
The second ten most popular countries among Russian tourists included Sri Lanka (81.5 thousand trips), Maldives (72.3), Kyrgyzstan (55.8), Serbia (50.2), India (45.2), Qatar (43.3), Georgia (33.7), Israel (27.7), Oman (18.2), Tajikistan (15.9).
“Growth is shown by those countries where direct flights are operated from Russia. At border control at Russian airports, the first landing point of the plane is recorded for statistics, regardless of where the person is actually going – even if his ticket indicates the final point of the route. Therefore, in the data of the Border Service of the Russian Federation, based on the results of nine months, travel to those countries where Russian tourists fly on connecting flights is indicated by zeros,” explains Dmitry Gorin, vice-president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST).
As a result, he said, European countries are not included in the ranking of tourist destinations, with the exception of Serbia, although the flow there is by no means zero.
As the expert emphasizes, it was the emergence or expansion of direct transportation, taking into account the low base of last year, that allowed Thailand, China, Sri Lanka, Cuba, India, Georgia, Tunisia, Morocco and other countries to show a colossal increase in tourist flow.
The top ten countries for travel for all purposes is headed by Abkhazia (4.6 million trips). In second place is Turkey (4.59 million), in third place is Kazakhstan (2.3 million). Also in the top ten are the UAE (1.2 million trips), Egypt (920 thousand), Armenia (890 thousand), Georgia (880 thousand), Thailand (690 thousand) and China (610 thousand). Of the European countries, only Finland was included in it, where more than 500 thousand Russians left.
Source: Avesta TJ
