Thailand is the most popular destination for the Russian tourist this New Year festive season

Thailand is the most popular foreign destination for the Russian travelers this New Year festive season, the Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR) has said. 

Among the domestic destination Sochi turned out as the most popular winter resort, the tourism industry Association revealed. 

“Thailand’s beaches and Sochi’s ski resorts competed fiercely for Russian travelers this New Year festive season, being the top destinations of choice for tourists from European and Asian parts of the country respectively,” said Maya Lomidze, the Executive Director of ATOR, whose members include Russian tourism powerhouses Biblio Globus, Coral Travel, Natalie Tours, Pegas Touristik and others. 

“The geographic factor plays an important role here as Thailand and China remain destinations number one for the regions of Siberian Federal District and Far Eastern Federal District. Sochi is the place of choice for the residents of Ural Federal District and Central Federal District,” Lomidze said at a recent tourism forum named “Tourism results of 2018, trends in New Year demand among Russians and forecast for 2019”. 

“In December 1.27 million Russians visited the country over the first 11 months of the year, up 10.33% against the same period of the previous year,” reported Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has set a target of 1.5 million visitors from Russia as their goal for the whole of 2018.