10% more tourists in Moscow. China takes lead
The FederalBorder Guard Service of Russia released statistical breakdown for the past nine
months of this year. International arrivals to Russian capital over the year's
first three quarters reached 4.4 million adding 10% year-on-year. Besides, the
growth in the number of arrivals from CIS countries has been less active when compared
to the tourist flow from other parts of the world: 6.6% vs. 13.4% respectively.
The leading position among non-CIS countries was for the first time taken away from Germany by China. The growth in arrivals from China amounts to 42.5% compared to the first three quarters of 2012. Overall, 309.5 thousand Chinese guests visited Moscow.
261.7 thousand tourists came from Germany.
The top 5 also lists France
(117.7), the USA (115.4), and Italy (108).
Within the
top 10 of non-CIS countries, the most active growth in the number of visitors
was shown by Japan (49.5 thousand people, +15% year-on-year), Turkey (107.7
thousand, +15%), the UK (97.3 thousand, +14%), and Italy (108 thousand, +11%).
Visa-free regime Russia has with Vietnam, Israel, Latin American countries, and of course, China gives quite a boost to the tourist flow. Consequently, Vietnam added 40.5%, Israel – 9.3%, and Brazil – 11.3%.
Best
performers outside the top 10 are Greece (+47.6% year-on-year), Czech Republic
(23%), Slovakia (25%), Belgium (21%), Australia (16%), and Finland (14%)
As for the
travelling purposes of visitors coming from outside the CIS, 39% came to Moscow
with the intent of tourism, 34.4% came for business matters. Since last year, a
share of private visits grew from 14.7% to 19.7%
Over the
first nine months of the current year, Moscow hotels of various categories
received 3.8 million people – 3.5% more if compared to last year. The income
generated by the city's hospitality sector went 4.4% up to 36 billion roubles (about
€800 million)