Russian Vacationers Getting Able to Journey Once more
The Covid-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on the tourism industry around the world. And Russia is no exception to this rule. This is especially true for international travel that has come to an abrupt halt. In 2020, Russian tourists made only 3.7 million trips abroad, 80% fewer than in 2019.
Another confirmation came from the Russian airline Aeroflot, whose number of international passengers decreased by 86% in January compared to 2020. Still, Russians see the light at the end of the tunnel amid the health crisis.
Turkey, Thailand and Europe are among the preferred travel destinations
60% of Russian tourists expect a full resumption of foreign travel in 2021. They named Turkey, Thailand, Egypt and Europe among the most desirable travel destinations. This was the result of a survey by Yandex.
More than 10 thousand people took part in this survey. As already mentioned, Turkey, Thailand and Egypt are among the most popular travel destinations. In Europe, Russian travelers are most likely to be ready to visit Italy and Spain.
In addition, the study found that 68% of respondents said yes to whether opening borders would affect their plans.
At the same time, 45% are willing to go abroad if their health situation improves. 9% would do so even if the risk of infection persists, while 20% of respondents said they prefer to relax in Russia and that opening borders will not affect them in any way.
Domestic tourism dominant
Respondents also reported that most of them had traveled around the country or stayed at home in the past year and early 2021. Almost 40% of respondents never left their city and 10% only went to work.
In terms of travel, 41% of respondents spent their vacation in Russia. 4.3% were able to travel both within the country and abroad, while those who only traveled abroad accounted for 4.6%.
About a third of Russian tourists (35.5%) believe that tourism behavior will not change in any way after the borders are opened. 27% believe that people will be more careful as an increase in the flow of tourism can lead to an increase in infections. Meanwhile, 22% of respondents expect domestic tourism to increase and a further 12% expect people to travel more often with their own car.
