ATOR predicts growth of tourist flow from Russia to some international destinations

Tourist flow this year will grow to some international destinations, but still will not reach indicators of years 2013 - 2014, the executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Maya Lomidze said. "According to the results of early bookings and subject to current economic and political situation, we can say that some of destinations this year will have increase in number of tourists from Russia. However, this growth will be negligible and will still not allow to achieve the indicators that have been in 2013 -2014 years,» Lomidze said. She noted in particular that Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Israel will probably benefit in demand among the Russian tourists. At the same time long-haul Asian destinations, which are intended to be an alternative to the closed Egypt, have a significant drop in demand. "The decline was 45-50%. After Egypt was closed, tour operators started offering other winter destinations at very low prices. For example, a week in Pattaya in a 2-star hotel including the flight cost 25 thousand rubles. But, nevertheless, the flight became more expensive, the tour package in general became more expensive, so it was reduced demand for the destination,» Lomidze said. According to the Russian Statistics Service, in 2015, Russians have made 12.1 million tourist trips, which is 31.3% lower than a year earlier. The Russian Union of Travel Industry said that this decrease was the most significant in 18 years.