The incoming tourist flow to Russia has grown by more than 11% in 2016

“3.3 million foreign tourists visited Russia in 2016, which is 11.2% more than a year ago”, - said Irina Tyurina the Press secretary of the Russian Tourist Industry Union (RCT) referencing to the data of Border Guard Service of Russia. With tourist purposes 3.3 million trips were made to Russia in 2016, which is 11.2% higher than in the previous year and 25% than in 2014. In 2016 the leaders of tourist flow are China (890 thousand, 31.4% more than in the previous year), Germany (389 200, plus 8.7%), the United States (178 000, plus 7, 9%), Israel (149 thousand, plus 17%) and South Korea (143.7 thousand, plus 23.6%). The biggest increase of tourist flow was shown by Iran, which added 75% to the results of 2015. With the result of 62.1 thousand trips, this country takes the 12 position. The leaders for growth are also India (plus 36.7%), Switzerland (plus 26.3%) and Belgium (plus 26.5%). "Not only the markets of Southeast Asia have grown, for example, Thailand (+17%), Vietnam (+13.2%), but practically - all of Europe: Finland (+13.3%), France (+16.8%), Spain (+9.7%), Germany (+8.7%), Great Britain and Italy (almost + 7%). In any case, the incoming statistics of 2016 is definitely more positive than the one of 2015", - added I. Tyurina. According to the early booking results, in 2017 the foreign tourists intend to miss June, when the Confederations Cup will be held in Russia, and focus on July-August. So, in St. Petersburg there are fewer accommodations in this period, and some companies expect increasing of the tourist flow by 60%.