Accordingto the Rosstat's data, 54 million 69 thousand trips abroad were made by the
Russians in 2013 - 13% more than a year before. Out of these trips, 18 million
292 thousand departures were made with the purpose of tourism - 19.3% more
compared to the 2012's results. And the latter figure is significantly higher
than the last five years' average of 11%. Mind that last year the tourist flow
growth was 5.8% - much lower than the average.
The list of
the most popular destinations remains intact over the past four years, even
though there are some changes within the top lines. And these changes are
especially notable with the 2013's results.
First of
all, three countries at the same time have stepped beyond the one million mark
for the first time in the entire history of Russian tourism statistics: Greece, Thailand,
and Spain.
Secondly,
once again for the first time, Greece
has entered the top three most popular destinations among Russian tourists. In
2012, the country was only seventh, so it managed to go up as many as four
lines. The growth of the tourist flow from Russia to this country reached 70%.
Finland, the last year's new leader in terms
of the tourist flow growth, has added even more - 76.5%. Even though it
happened after a mysterious 44% drop in 2012, the country managed to overcome
the decrease but still failed to get back to the results of a more successful
year of 2011.
As before,
the rating is headed by Turkey
with 3078.6 tourist arrivals from Russia. And this is a record, too:
as per the Rosstat's data, the country has crossed the three million mark for
the first time. The tourist flow's dynamics that hadn't been too great over the
past several years has improved as well. In 2010 the flow of tourists grew
20.4%; in 2011 - 13.3%; and in 2012 it had even gone 6.2% down. But by the end
of 2013 the growth has reached 22.4%. Perhaps, Egypt's problems during the second
half of the previous year have helped extend the Turkish season and thus
improve the statistical figures. And still nobody can come close to Turkey in terms
of absolute numbers.
Egypt has not gone down in 2013, but the
growth of the Russian tourist flow has drastically decreased. In 2012, it added
31%, while in 2013 - a mere 0.14%. Despite all this, Egypt remains second most popular
destination among Russian holidaymakers.
Thailand managed to get 17% up in 2013,
thanks to "Bangkok
trouble's" not starting before late November. Nevertheless, the
destination failed to stand against Greece and moved one line down from
fourth to fifth place.
For the very
same reason, Spain
dropped from fifth to sixth position. Even though it had been performing pretty
good last year: added 28% to the tourist flow and passed one million arrivals
from Russia
for the first time. Mostly thanks to the fact that it has been handing out
multiple entry visas to almost every single applicant.
Finland went up from tenth to seventh line.
Germany
left the sixth for the eighth, despite it's 16.5% growth year-on-year and that
in 2012 the growth was just 1.5%.
Italy with its 27% increase in the tourist
flow has done quite good, especially when you have in mind the country's tiny
minus of 0.1% in 2012. United
Arab Emirates have been steadily going up
over the past years; and last year this country added another 19%.
The only
state in the top-10 to finish the previous year with a minus is China
and its drop of 20%. In 2012 it had a decrease, too, - 11.5%. Among other
reasons for this, tour operators name the fact that China ceased to be a cheap
destination for businessmen and tourists alike. It applies to both airfares and
the cost of goods and services inside the country. China's hotels now charge 1.5-2 times
as much as they did two-three years before.
Out of 30 most
popular destinations (see the chart below), only two showed negative growth dynamics
at the end of 2013: China
and Croatia.
The latter lost 24.5% of its inbound tourist flow from Russia due to
visa regime implementation. All the others have grown; most of them - significantly.
Apart from
already named Finland and Greece that have added 76.5% and 70%
respectively, other leaders in terms of growth dynamics are Hong Kong (63%), India (58%), Cyprus
(43%), Vietnam (42%), Tunisia (36%), Montenegro
(29%), Bulgaria (28%), and Spain (28%).
But whatever
the reasons for such a drastic growth, it hardly makes any good to tour
operators. The high demand on the Russian market is not caused by customers' paying
capacity. What it is caused by is the overall dumping. Besides, quite a share of travelers goes past
tour operators towards online booking. But perhaps it's good for now. For the more you sell at a loss - the more the
damage.
International
departures from Russia
with purpose of
tourism in 2013
(thousand trips)
Read in Russian
