ATOR (Association of Tour Operators of Russia) Executive Director Maya Lomidze summed up the preliminary results of the 2021 summer season, named the leading destinations and spoke about the trends in tourist demand.
According to ATOR analysts, the summer tourist season in 2021 was quite successful, especially compared to 2020, and in some areas the tourist flow was even higher than in the same period in 2019.
Among foreign destinations (more than 40 of them are now opened for Russian tourists), Turkey has become the leader. Until the end of the year, up to 4,5 million Russian tourists can be expected here. During the high summer season, 2,3-2,4 million trips of Russian citizens were made to Turkish resorts.
Among other things, the popularity of Turkey is due to the fact that it is the only massive tourist destination to which charters are allowed from the Russian Federation, and the flight program covers several dozen cities.
Preliminary data of the ATOR Analytical Service on foreign tourist traffic (results of the summer and 8 months of 2021) are the following:
Turkey - about 2,6 million over 8 months, of which at least 2 million in the summer months. Up to 4,5 million Russians are expected by the end of the year.
Abkhazia - at least 800 thousand tourists since the beginning of the year, approx. 700 thousand in summer (including one-day excursion groups and independent tourists by car).
Cyprus - about 330-340 thousand tourists, of which 250 thousand in summer.
UAE - about 330-340 thousand tourists from the beginning of the year, in summer - about 90 thousand.
Egypt - about 250 thousand since the beginning of the year, of which about 70 thousand in the summer (by the end of the year it is expected from 500 thousand to 1 million Russians. The volume depends on the availability of charters).
Maldives – 160,6 thousand tourists since the beginning of the year, of which in the summer 54 thousand.
Cuba - 100 thousand tourists since the beginning of the year, of which about 40 thousand in summer.
Croatia - 90 thousand tourists since the beginning of the year, of which 70 thousand in summer.
Tanzania – 85,3 thousand tourists since the beginning of the year. Nowadays, there are no tours there.
Greece - about 70 thousand tourists since the beginning of the year, of which 60 thousand in summer.
Tunisia - about 65 thousand since the beginning of the year, at least 50 thousand in summer.
Serbia - 37 thousand tourists since the beginning of the year, about 20 thousand in summer.
Mexico - 28 thousand since the beginning of the year, 20 thousand over the summer.
Bulgaria - about 17 thousand since the beginning of the year, about 15 thousand tourists from Russia over the summer.
