Turkey is by far the leader among the countries where Russians traveled to from January to September 2021 for tourism purpose. Almost 2,9 million Russian tourists visited the country over three quarters, according to the statistics of the Russian FSB Border Service.
Cyprus is in the second place in terms of the number of trips of Russian tourists – 330,1 thousand. On the third line is the United Arab Emirates (276,2 thousand). These destinations are followed by Egypt (214,4 thousand) and Greece (124,7 thousand). The TOP-10 also includes the Maldives (103,5 thousand), Cuba (almost 90 thousand), Tanzania (71,2 thousand), Armenia (63,3 thousand) and Tunisia (61 thousand).
Bulgaria, Serbia, USA, Dominican Republic, Germany, Mexico, Croatia, Moldova, Italy, Seychelles, Qatar are in the second TOP-10. Each of these countries received less than 50 thousand Russian tourists.
Egypt improved indicators in the third quarter, when regular flights were allowed between Russia and the Red Sea resorts. In the first and second quarters, the country received 10,2 and 78,6 thousand Russian tourists, respectively, and for the period from July to September – 125,5 thousand. In 2020, there was practically no tourist flow to Egypt, and in 2019 in January-September it amounted to only 9 thousand people.
In total, from January to September, Russians made 4,6 million trips abroad for tourism purposes. This is 50% more than a year earlier (3 million). But three times less than in the same period of the pre-pandemic 2019 (14,2 million).
