According to the Border Service of the Federal Security Service of Russia, from January to March 2019 6.4 million foreigners visited the Russian Federation, which is 1.6% more than in the first quarter of 2018. Of these, 469.9 thousand people indicated tourism as the purpose of their visit. This is 21.5% more than in 2018 (386.7 thousand).
The main entry flow of foreigners in Russia includes citizens from countries of the former Soviet Union.
So, in the first quarter of 2018 the first lines of the rating are occupied by Ukraine (1.7 million, minus 10.4%), Kazakhstan (870 thousand, plus 2.5%), Uzbekistan (634.7 thousand, plus 15%), Tajikistan (689.1 thousand, plus 24.3%). China closes TOP-5 – over three months Chinese citizens visited Russia 342.1 thousand times, that is 17% more than in the same period of 2018.
In total, for the first quarter of 2019 4.7 million citizens of countries of the former Soviet Union arrived in Russia. Another group of countries with a large total inbound flow are the border states and countries, where a large number of the Russians live. Most often, the citizens of these countries come to Russia with short one-day visits and are not classic tourists. Such countries include China, Finland (200 thousand, minus 7%), Poland (165.3 thousand, minus 5.4%), Estonia (100 thousand, plus 8%) and Germany (67.3 t thousand, minus 0.8%).
For the first quarter of 2019 the rate of incoming tourist flow continues to exceed the same indicator of the total incoming flow of foreigners. Over the first three months 469.9 thousand of foreign citizens visited Russia for tourist purposes, which is 21.5% more than from January to March 2018.
Recall that, according to the results of 2018 4.2 million tourists visited Russia last year for tourist purposes - 10.3% more than in 2017. At the same time, the total inbound flow of foreigners grew by only 1.6%.
China, South Korea, Israel, Germany, France, Italy, Thailand, Turkey, USA and Japan are in the TOP-10 countries - the main source markets for Russia. For the period from January to March 2019 the TOP-10 no longer includes the United Kingdom and Spain. Their places were occupied by Thailand and Turkey. However, the high season for Russian inbound tourism is still ahead, which means that the changes in the TOP-10 can occur.
According to the results of the first three months of 2019, China remains the leading supplier of tourists to Russia. According to the border service of the FSB of the Russian Federation, from January to March, 163.4 thousand Chinese visited our country for tourist purposes, which is almost 30% more than in the same period of 2018.
On the second place is South Korea. For three months, 59.2 thousand citizens of this country visited Russia. The number of tourists has increased by a record 94.6%.
The number of tourists from Israel increased by 20% and amounted to 24.7 thousand of visits. 23.3 thousand citizens of Germany came to Russia over three months. This is 3.5% more than last year. France closes the TOP-5 of the main source markets for Russia - 17.6 thousand and + 16% compared with the first quarter of last year.
Top 10 main suppliers of tourists also included Italy (11.4 thousand, + 7.9%), Thailand (11.2 thousand, + 13.3%), Turkey (9.9 thousand, minus 4, 5%), USA (8.9 thousand, + 5%) and Japan (7.7 thousand, + 22.7%).
