Departure of Russian citizens abroad. Official results of 2017

The final figures of border crossing of Russian citizens outside the country in 2017 are published on the portal of the United Interdepartmental Information and Statistical System (EMISS). The data were provided by FSB of Russian Federation. According to the data of FSB of Russia (its structure includes the Border Guard Service, which controls border crossings), in 2017 Russian citizens made 41,989,261 trips outside the country. This is 24.13% more than in 2016, when our compatriots 33 827 420 times traveled outside of Russia. In 2017, 28 604 030 trips were made to all countries of "far abroad”, which is 31.6% more than in 2016. The leaders of TOP-20 countries (according to the number of trips made outside Russia in 2017) are follows: Turkey – 4 659 699. Finland – 3 629 121. China – 2 251 587. Estonia – 1 803 249. Germany – 1 329 336. Poland – 1 279 980. Thailand – 1 140 191. Spain – 978 688. Italy – 956 434. Cyprus – 910 150. Greece – 887 870. UAE – 784 013. Lithuania – 742 333. Tunisia – 537 419. Vietnam – 535 421. Czech Republic – 524 107. France – 507 041. Bulgaria – 503 687. Latvia – 424 842/ . Israel – 386 336. Almost all countries from the TOP-20 demonstrated an increase of the number of trips from Russia in 2017. The best results in dynamics were shown by Turkey - + 553.2%. These results are explained by closed season 2016. Apart Turkey from TOP-20, United Arab Emirates demonstrated the best dynamics: + 53.7% against 2016. On the third place is Vietnam with 30.1% of growth, then Czech Republic with an increase of 27.4% and Thailand with Italy (an increase of 25.6% and 25.5% respectively). Almost all the countries from the rest of the list showed double-digit growth rates of tourist traffic, except Cyprus (+ 6.25%) and Greece (+ 8.90%). Three countries from TOP-20 showed a negative dynamics in comparison with the previous year: Lithuania (-6.85%), Bulgaria (-10.3%) and Tunisia (-16.9%).