The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the fall of Russia's GDP in 2015 to 3.8%, the fund said in a new analytical forecast report on Tuesday.

Earlier, the IMF predicted that Russia's GDP this year will fall by 3%. According to the new forecast of the fund, in 2016 the economic downturn…

Russian President Vladimir Putin was named the winner of US magazine Time 100 readers’ poll for this year’s most influential people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was named the winner of US magazine Time 100 readers’ poll for this year’s most influential people. The South Korean girl-group…

The executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators (ATOR) of Russia Maya Lomidze reported about that to TASS.

Low-cost airline of Aeroflot, Pobeda Airline, organizes regular flights to Sochi, which reduces cost of tour packages to Sochi. Tour operators also actively work…

The popular online booking service Anywayanyday published a top 10 holiday destinations for Russians for May holidays. The leader is Sochi: the demand for flights to Sochi increased by 80% compared to last year. The second position is taken by Tel Aviv, the third by Mineralnye Vody and fourth by Simferopol.…

In the beginning of April, Tour Operators Association in Outbound Tourism Tourpomosch (click to read more about the Association) reminded tour operators that they according to the law they have to pay the membership fee till April 15, 2015 to extend their membership in the association.

Within…

An average price for summer tour package to foreign destinations for Russians fell down by 15 – 20 per cent. Interfax informed about that as referred to data from tour operators.

Such trend is a result of price drop on some key destinations, cut of expenses for holidays, and dependence of…

From April 1, 2015, Russian Tour Operator Natalie Tours closes its offices in Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk. According to Words of Vladimir Vorobiev, the President of Natalie Tours, the main reason is that tour operator refused from flights from Siberia for this summer season. “But we consider the possibilities…

On the last week, Rostourism (Federal Agency for Tourism) read out of Federal Registry at once 370 tour operators. The order was published on the web site of Ministry on 16-th of March, however travel industry was busy with tourism fairs in Moscow, MITT and Intourmarket.

Recently,…

Kommersant.ru has published the list of Russian most visited Internet resources, related to travel industry.

By request of Kommersant, Internet Analytics Company com.Score scaled the audience of top ten travel online services in Russia (they counted only web sites’ visitors above 15 y.o.).…

The company report for 2014 stated that losses are determined by so cold paper corrections, without them net profit of Aeroflot totaled more than 10.8 billion rubles.

As of year-end 2014, revenue of Aeroflot Group exceeded 319 billion rubles which is 9.9 per cent more than a year before.…

The number of charter programs this year was diminished by 50 per cent, at the same time the volume of transportation for May holidays fell down by 30 per cent, according to data of Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR). Tour…

Sochi became the most popular city for Russians for traveling with kids on spring break. This southern destination beat Saint-Petersburg and Moscow both by number of bookings and by their duration. However, Sochi is the most expensive city for holidays according to information of online booking service…

Popular movies directly affect the choice of trip destination. For example, after run of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the requests of Russians for hotels and flights to Iceland (where the main character performed by Ben Stiller) increased almost double. It is written…

TripAdvisor travel portal released the results of its TripBarometer survey carried out by Ipsos independent agency. Over 44 thousand travelers and hotel staff members were interviewed in different countries, including 1931 people in Russia, of which 1738 were tourists and 193 - hotel staff. The survey…

Some small Russian tour operators consider quitting the tourism market since June 2015, as Irina Tyurina, the press-secretary of Russian Tourism Union said on the press-conference without naming any particular companies.

We know, as we talk to auditors, that many tour operators are willing…

Winter Season 2014

RBK collected and analyzed available foreign statistics of arrivals of Russian tourists in November and December 2014. The results were rather predictable. The number of Russians, who travelled abroad, has been gradually dropped down on all mass destinations…

ATOR criticized amendments to legislative about tourism industry in Russia which were discussed on February 25, 2015 in the State Duma. Russian tour operators explained that the current legislative takes into account either real situation in tourism industry neither economic situation in…

The 2014 travel season was extremely difficult for Cyprus. The island went through financial losses, saw the flag-carrying airline Cyprus Airways leaving the market after almost 70 years of service. The inbound tourist flow to Cyprus added very modest 1.5%. Two countries are responsible for this growth…

Long-haul tours from Russia are being sold in accordance with the market situation: following a significant price rise amidst the currency exchange rate growth, the demand has gone at least 50% down. And the more affordable a destination the better it performs.

Middle-class hotels…