4 million Russians got official recommendation "not to leave" the country for holidays

In April, 2015, 135 thousand Russians refused to go for holidays abroad. The experts predict that by the fall 2015 there will be ten times more. Total in 2014, the outgoing tourist flow from Russia amounted 13 million people. About 60% of them (7.8 million people) traveled in summer period, according to the information of Dmitry Gorin, the head of the transport committee of ATOR (Association of Tour Operators of Russia). In general, the outbound tourist flow will be reduced by about 25% (about 2 million opeople), according to calculations of ATOR.

Total in 2014 was organized by the visiting tourist flow about 13 million people, of whom about 60% [7.8 million people] rest in the summer season, cites the head of the transport committee of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), Dmitry Gorin. In total, according ATOR, reduced outbound tourist traffic this summer will be about 25% [of about 2 million people].

"Tour operators have requested 50% less charter flights than in the last summer season, Dmitry Gorin says. - It is true that tour operators reorientated to buy blocks of seats on scheduled flights." His statement is confirmed by the data published on the web site of Russian Aviation Ministry: from November 2014 till May 2015, there were 357 charter flights per week admitted by Russian Aviation Ministry, instead of 587 charter flights admitted from November 2013 till May 2014.

The decrease on European destinations is result of political situation and the fact that some of the Russian citizens are banned from entering the EU, as Vladimir Vorobiov, the President of Natalie Tours says. "From 18 million of potential tourists, about 4 million people cannot travel abroad because of recommendation of Russian authorities", Dmitry Gorin says. "These are employees of army, secret agencies and members of their families," he says.

Another significant factor in the reduction of tourist flow is the depreciation of the ruble. But according to Dmitry Gorin, after strengthening of the Russian currency in spring, outgoing tourism has begun to recover. "In winter we expected 35% decrease of bookings from Moscow for summer period, but now our calculations are minus 25%," he says. Although this year we had almost no early bookings: instead of 25-30% we had only 7% of summer tour packages sold in winter. Customers were not psychologically ready for rate of 70-80 rubles per euro, but they are already used to the rate of 55 rubles per euro.