Flights and tourist traffic from Russia amidst pandemic (weekly update)

Pobeda is resuming flights to Milan (Bergamo). Moscow-Milan (Bergamo) flights will be performed from March 26, 2021, on Fridays.

S7 airline has opened ticket sales to charter flights from Moscow to Bari, Olbia and Pisa in Italy with the scheduled departures from early March

In July-August, Russian tourists started buying air tickets for the New Year holidays after a long break. Primarily, hey show interest for the still closed European countries.

Russian tourists are not allowed to visit Italy. As a member of the EU, Italy cannot open its borders to unsafe countries.

Wizz Air, which was the first foreign carrier to open its operating base in Russia, is expanding its presence at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport.

With the opening of the external borders of the EU from June 15, Italy is ready to receive Russian tourists.

In order to quickly restore tourist flow from Russia, European countries thought about easing the visa regime. The most active in this matter are the European countries, which GDP largely depends on the tourism sector.

Italy is one of the most visited countries in the world. The secret of Italy’s success is simple: a great beach holiday in the Mediterranean, a super-rich excursion program, ski resorts and, of course, shopping. Another point of the Italian program is a very high-quality, not cheap, treatment at thermal SPA, as well as gastronomic and wine tours.

The Milan metropolis or “Greater Milan” in northern Italy includes the city of Milan, the administrative center of the Lombardy region, and 10 Lombard provinces with a total population of about 9 million people. It is the fifty-fourth largest metropolis in the world.

Russia is imposing restrictions on air transportation to Italy, Germany, France, and Spain.

Aeroflot reduces the number of flights to China, South Korea, Vietnam and Italy in March due to lower demand from passengers, the company said.

Ural Airlines announced the suspension of a number of flights to Italy. The Airline explains these measures in its statement by the “unfavorable epidemiological situation” in Italy.

Pobeda Airlines (part of the Aeroflot Group) will reduce the frequency of flights to Italy until May 2020 due to falling demand in this area.

Tour operators have named the TOP-5 of the best-selling European destinations this spring.

The demand for Italian ski resorts this year met all the expectations of tour operators. In December, more than 60% of tour packages planned for the winter season was sold. The popularity of the destination among Russian tourists-skiers has grown by 25-30%.

According to the Border Service, in 2019, Russian citizens made 48 072 285 trips in 176 foreign countries and territories. This is 7,9% more than in 2018 (44 551 092).

Early booking of tours to Italy for the summer 2020 season is undergoing. Market players say that now they can note that the new season will show a tangible increase in organized tourist flow.

Milan, February 2020 – The countdown is on for BitMilano 2020, the only Italian trade fair to propose the multi-target b2b and b2c formula, on 9 February when it will open to travellers; on 10 and 11 February entry will be reserved for professionals of the industry only.

Lake Como, also known as Lario, is the third-largest lake of glacial origin in northern Italy, at over 400 metres deep. Lake Como is well known worldwide for its villas by the shore, the away-from-it-all little villages and the snow-capped mountainous hinterland. The most visited spot is the city of Como, located on the lake’s western branch: with tourists coming from all over the world to visit the Lake and its surroundings, short-term holiday rentals have become extremely popular.

Independent Russian travelers named the countries in which they like to return most of all, Turkey was the leader.

In 2020, after the new rules came into force, Russian tourists traveling to Italy will be able to count on receiving five-year Schengen visas.

Turkey has become an almost year-round holiday destination for Russians. By the end of the year the country will host about 6 million Russians.