The number of requests of foreign tourists to travel to Russia for the New Year's holidays increased by 31% in 2019, a study of the tourist metasearch Momondo showed.
Service experts analyzed the search data for economy class airline tickets to Russian cities for dates from December 26 to January 12, 2020.
Most foreign tourists looked for tickets for the New Year holidays in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the number of requests for these cities increased by 5% and 1%, respectively. In third place is Sochi (plus 17%), followed by Yekaterinburg (plus 4%), Krasnodar (minus 14%), Novosibirsk (plus 12%), Kazan (minus 26%), Rostov-on-Don (minus 31%), Irkutsk (plus 79%) and Kaliningrad (plus 9%). According to service experts, an almost twofold increase in requests for Irkutsk is connected with the growing popularity of Lake Baikal.
Tourists from Germany are on the first position in terms of the number of travel requests to Russia. "Despite the fact that compared to last year, the number of requests from German tourists decreased by 9%, the country is on the leading position even against the background of countries that showed positive dynamics," the press service explained.
France is on the second line with an increase of 10% and the United States closes the TOP-3, whose residents were interested in air tickets to Russia 12% less than a year earlier.
The TOP-10 also includes Italy (minus 5%), Great Britain (minus 31%), Sweden (minus 1%), Spain (minus 18%), Denmark (minus 23%), Israel (plus 8%) and Switzerland.
According to the study, there are countries in which the popularity of travel to Russia for the New Year has grown significantly. Among them are Slovakia, South Korea and Singapore, where the number of requests increased by 341%, 147% and 142% respectively. In addition, interest in trips to Russia was shown by citizens of the Persian Gulf countries - Saudi Arabia (74%) and the UAE (51%), as well as Colombia (48%), Luxembourg (44%), Serbia (41%), Japan (40 %) and Ireland (33%).
