Number of Russian Travelers on the Rise

09 September 2011 5:27pm

By Ozgur Tore

The total number of the travels of the Russian tourists abroad amounted to 18.3 million during the first six months of 2011 and increased by15 percent if to compare with the same period of last year. 68.6 percent of all the trips were made to the foreign countries and 31.4 percent to the near abroad (CIS countries).

The most considerable share was noted for the private visits (56.2 percent) and tourism (33.3 percent). The most popular destinations among the Russians during the first six months of the year became: Turkey (more than 1.13 million Russians), China (almost 632 thousand people), Egypt (almost 489 thousand tourists) and Thailand (more than 421 thousand people).

Due to the redistribution of the tourist flow from Egypt to other countries, many destinations showed an unprecedented dynamics of the demand. The number of the Russian tourists in Cuba increased (46 000 people in comparison with 29 818 in 2010). Some impressive results of the six months demonstrated Dominican Republic as well (+59.22 percent). 52 000 peoplevisitedthecountryfromJanuarytoJuly2011.

It’s remarkable that such popular Caribbean destinations gave in to Hong Kong (67 788 Russian tourists with the increase of 55.2 percent in comparison with the same period of last year). The tendency of the increase of the inbound tourist flow was noted as well. The number of the trips of the foreigners from 212 countries amounted to 11.5 million people (+13.9 percent in comparison with the same period of last year).

Around 60 percent of the trips were private visits, 23.9 percent - business trips and only 7.1 percent arrived with the tourist purposes. The number of the citizens of the far abroad who visited Russia during the first six months of 2011 amounted to 4.08 million people.