According to the data of the Border Service of the FSB of Russia, from January to September Russians made 14,18 million tourist trips abroad, which is 9,2% more than the same period a year earlier. Turkey remains the most popular destination, where 4,49 million Russian tourists made holidays over three quarters, and the increase in tourist flow amounted to 15,3%. Italy moved up to the second place (776,2 thousand trips), adding 22,3%. Spain dropped from the second place to the third - 692,5 thousand trips to the country, which is 5,4% more than a year earlier.
The tourist flow to China also increased by 22% and amounted to 655,3 thousand trips, which allowed the country to rise to the fourth place. On the fifth line is Greece, with 561 thousand Russian tourists’ visits. This is 10% less than a year earlier. Germany occupied the sixth position, the tourist flow in which for three quarters amounted to 555,6 thousand people with an increase of 10,4%. On the seventh line is Cyprus, which hosted 553,7 thousand Russians – 5,3% more than a year earlier.
Thailand (534,8 thousand), Tunisia (501 thousand tourists) and the UAE (457,7 thousand) close the TOP-10. All three resorts have worsened their positions compared to last year by 9,2%, 1,4% and 11%, respectively.
The second ten of the most popular destinations is opened by France, which showed a record increase in tourist flow by almost 30% (323 thousand trips) – experts connect this fact with a noticeable expansion of air transportation to this country in the summer of 2019. On the twelfth position is Bulgaria (309 thousand, a decrease of 11%), Vietnam (299 thousand, a decrease of 6,6%), the Czech Republic (288 thousand) and Montenegro (280,6 thousand, an increase of 22%).
Georgia is on the sixteenth line with 213,3 thousand Russian visits. Despite the ban of direct flights since July 8, the decrease in tourist flow was only 3,5%. As the spokeswoman of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RCT) Irina Tyurina explained, this result is connected with a large increase in tourist flow to Georgia from January to July 2019. Also the TOP-20 includes Finland (187,1 thousand, an increase of 8,5%), Israel (173,5 thousand, + 7%), Austria (135,3 thousand, + 8%) and Latvia (131,7 thousand, + 30,7%).
