The interest of Russian tourists to Europe has fallen by half

The European Travel Commission (ETC) has released another Long-Haul Travel Barometer (LHTB), a study that provides insight into tourists preferences for the summer of 2022 (May-August).

According to the ETC study, due to the events around Ukraine and anti-Russian sanctions, the desire of Russians to travel to Europe has reached the lowest level in the history of observations (78 points).

This is significantly lower than even the figure recorded during the first wave of COVID-19 (88 points in Russia in May-August 2020), when most European countries introduced the strictest restrictions.

In the nearest future, more than half of the Russians (60%) do not plan to travel outside the border at all, another 20% are ready to go abroad.

Among the reasons why Russians will not travel to Europe in the coming months are:
- do not plan any trips at all in the summer - 24% of respondents;
- prices have risen a lot, 13% of respondents cannot afford a trip to Europe;
- fear of anti-Russian sentiment and hostility towards Russians - 10% of respondents;
- the current situation around Ukraine - 9% of respondents;
- the popular European destinations that interest tourists remain closed to Russians - 4% of respondents;
- current financial restrictions (for example, the inability to use credit / debit cards) - 3% of respondents;
- lack of direct flights to the desired countries - 2% of respondents;
- concerns about travel safety related to COVID-19 - 2% of respondents.

Only 20% of Russian respondents said they can consider traveling to Europe this summer (in summer 2021 this figure was 39%).