Despite the sanctions, difficulties in obtaining visas and the lack of direct flights, Russian tourists do not refuse to travel to Europe in the summer season of 2024.

Russian tourists have replaced Spain with Turkey, as a result of which the Кingdom lost almost €2 billion in 2022. Last year only 268 thousand Russians visited Spain.

The number of Russian tourists visiting the country for the first six months of this year increased by 73% compared to the same period last year. In total, 155 052 vacationers from Russia visited Spain during this time.

The cancellation by the EU countries of the visa facilitation agreement with Russia in 2022, including an increase of the visa fee for Russian applicants from 35 to 80 Euros, in fact did not have a significant impact on discouraging Russians from relaxing in Spain.

The Spanish authorities continue to be the leader in issuing Schengen visas in Russia, as recently published statistics show. In 2022, a quarter of all documents issued to Russian were Spanish: 154 450 visas out of 603 955.

The number of Russian tourists in Spain has tripled despite all the sanctions, including the ban on flights from Russia to the EU. Some of Russian tourists may be redirected to Western Europe, which is in no hurry to close the issuance of visas.

The tour operator Anex Tour announced the opening of sales of tour packages to Spain. The tour includes accommodation with the selected type of food and a standard insurance. It is possible to add an individual transfer.

On May 21, the Spanish Ministry of Tourism officially announced that from today, travelers from non-EU countries will be able to enter Spain with a negative PCR test for COVID-19.

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior has extended the current ban on entry into the country for tourist trips from most third countries. Russia was not included in the list of third countries allowed to entry.

On September 13, the headquarters announced the resumption of flights with Spain, Iraq, Kenya and Slovakia, as well as the expansion of traffic to the resorts of Egypt. Flights abroad are also allowed from four more cities in Russia.

The Spanish authorities have extended the imposed restrictions on tourist travel from countries outside the European Union and the Schengen area (including Russian tourists) until May 31 due to the current situation with coronavirus.

The Consulate General of Spain in Moscow announced the resumption of the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians from May 12.

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

The date of the resumption of work of visa centers in Europe is still largely unclear.

Tez Tour has opened the sale of tours on the company's website for the next year in such destinations as Turkey, Greece, Spain and Cyprus. In the near future, the tour operator plans to open sales of tours to Bulgaria and Italy.

The tourist flow from Russia to Spain in March fell by almost 70% due to the coronavirus pandemic,

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.

Due to restrictions on flights between Russia and Spain, tour operators are adjusting their flight programs to this country.

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

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

1,3 million people from Russia visited Spain over the year. Russian tourist flow is growing faster than the market as a whole - it added 6,9% compared to last year.

The travel service Tutu.ru analyzed all air tickets, sold from any city in Russia, with travel dates from December 1, 2019 to March 1, 2020 and compiled a rating of destinations that are most popular.

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