By the end of 2023, 41 countries are available for Russian tourists on direct flights

As Alexander Osaulenko, Director of the Association of tour operators, said, outbound tourism by the end of 2023 will recover by 86-89% compared to the pre-pandemic 2019 indicators. 41 countries around the world are available to Russians on direct flights.

“If last spring of 2022, compared to the pre-pandemic period, there were three direct international destinations, today there are 41 ones. I think that this is not the limit. We will see new opened destinations. So, before the pandemic there were 69. In terms of volumes, we do not yet reach pre-pandemic levels, but we are already close to it. According to various estimates, by the end of 2023 we will reach a figure of 86-89% compared to the pre-pandemic period. This is a serious volume against the backdrop of what is happening with the ruble exchange rate and inflation,” he said at a press conference.

As Osaulenko noted, the most popular foreign holiday destinations for Russians in winter are warm countries where there are sea resorts - the UAE, Thailand, Cuba, Vietnam and others.

“But last week a conference of Russian-Chinese working group was held in Beijing, where they discussed, among other things, the flow of Chinese tourists to Russia. And there were figures of volumes indicated for the next year, which we have already named. Next year we expect more than 2 million Chinese tourists alone. Let’s hope that this will really happen,” summed up the head of Tourist Pomosch company.

From January to September 2023, Russians made 7 million trips abroad for the purpose of tourism, which is 50% more than in the same period a year earlier. The number of tourist trips of foreign citizens during the same period amounted to 429 thousand, which is 190% more than a year earlier.