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Russia attracts more eastern and less western tourists

08:07, 11 марта 2013

Last year confirmed the positive dynamicsof the inbound tourist flow to Russia. 26 countries from 40 showed growth. According to the Russian statistics the number of tourist that entered our country in 2012 has grown by 10% if compared to 2011. That's the best result for the past five years. In 2011 thе rate was 9%, in 2010 – 2%, in 2009 it was -8%, and in 2008 it was not more than 4%.

Happiness is spoiled only by the fact that unlike the good percentage, in the absolute numbers there are still very few foreigners who come to Russia; especially if compared to the outbound volumes. A Russian travels abroad with tourism purpose every third time and foreigners come to Russia with the same purpose one time of ten. Last year 15.3 million Russian tourists went abroad and only 2.6 million foreign travelers came to Russia. And some experts consider the rate to be too high.

“The main tourist flow comes through St. Petersburg. For example, St. Isaac Cathedral was visited by 2.7 million people in 2012 – half of them were Russians and half of them – foreigners?, – explained the Director General of Svoy-TT Company Sergey Voytovich to RATA-news. Such tourist flow can hardly be called a success, especially when the country can accept 10 times more tourists. Director General of the Academservice Leoneed Isakovich agrees with his colleague. Never the less, 10% of the inbound tourist flow increase he considers to be real.

One more tendency that began to show in 2011 was proved in 2012: Asian and East markets which are new to Russia became active. The most significant growth showed India (111%), China (47%), Turkey (25%), Australia (33%), Japan (18%), Israel (14%), Hong Kong (12.6%). According to the Russian statistics, the Indian tourist flow to Russia has grew by almost three times from 2008 to 2012. As the Vice-chairman of the Moscow City Committee for Tourism and Hotel Industry Georgiy Mokhov told RATA-news that in 2011 was 35 thousands of Indians visited the capital and in 2012 the number of tourists was 47 thousands. Leoneed Isakovich believes that the increase from India can be connected to the fact that our consulates operate more efficiently now.

China is pleasing the tour operators. According to the Director for the inbound tourism of the Intourist Company Nina Zharova, the demand for Russia among the inhabitants of the Heavenly Empire has almost doubled if compared to the previous rates. The year of Russian tourism in China has become a good push for it. The Chinese were interested not only in traditional routes St. PetersburgMoscow, but in Tver, Novgorod, Suzdal and Vladimir as well. However, according to Sergey Voytovich, the wealthiest tourists are not the ones who come to us. «The main Chinese tourist flow comes on trade-Union vouchers. Here they live in cheap hotels; don't spend a lot of money; and evade taxation when paying the guides. They're often complained about”, – he noted. The Director of the Fremad Moscow Nina Tikhontseva agrees that the south-east market – China, Thailand and India – is first of all a cheap tours market segment.

Iran turned to be one of the discoveries of the year as Russia is one of the opened countries for it. Vietnam tourism got active as well. The flow from Turkey is constantly growing, and the trips are mostly touristic and cultural. The Managing Director of the Tari-tour Company Igor Kuzmin noted the season to be good on the part on Japan: “In 2012 the growth from Japan was even higher than from the general market, it was about 20%. The Japanese themselves are surprised with the numbers. But I believe this year the flow will stabilize and the numbers will be smaller than in 2012?. The Director of the Infoflot Company's Moscow office Andrey Mikhaylovskiy noted increase of the individual tourists from different countries. According to him, the interest in river cruises about Russia is increasing among foreigners due to the comfortable ships and the level of service: these criterias are almost of the international standards.

We should note that the most active tourist flow is from the non-visa countries. The only Schengen country whose demand was increasing within the previous year was Switzerland (+10%), all the others didn't reach the level. That's exactly what makes Leoneed Isakovich belive that the results of the year were lower that everyone expected. Rates on India, Australia, and all the more Brazil oк Hong Kong make no good as the flow from the countries in minimal. We should take our bearing on the countries that traditionally give us a lot of tourists, – Germany, Italy and France”, – he said.

Most of tourists came from Germany – 375.3 thousands (+8%). This year Great Britain grew by 5% (last year it was 2%), France added 5% (1% last year), but other countries afflict. Last year Finland lost 4% and this year even more (-10%), Denmark lost almost 5%, Baltic countries continue to decline – Estonia (-12%), Latvia (-4%). According to Nina Tikhontseva, tourists from the Northern Europe more rarely come to Russia now – the crisis affects tourism and our country is rather expensive. The Deputy General Director of the Gardariky Service Company Elena Krukova (accepts business-tourists from Italy) believes that Italians decided to stay home because of the crisis. Those who came to Russia decided to spend less days in our country.

There are the ones who were especially affected. It's a pity to see the situation with Spain getting worse. In 2011 it has grown by 16% and this year it decreased by 30%! Or Norway, which last year increased by 4% and this year decreased by 12%, and since 2008 the tourist flow went down by 50%. Intourist Company calls the negative Spanish rates quite predictable. The country is in a deep economic crisis, and it obvious that people saves on travelling. On the contrary, prices in Russia are growing. Since the beginning of the year an average cost of a package has increased by 10%. Sergey Voytovich believes it's not serious to refer to the crisis. “It's been five years since the crisis in Spain started, and such a dramatic decline occurred only this year”, – he noted. According to the expert there's problem with Russian visa centers which hold the interest for Russia.

Sergey Viytovich is sure that same decline will soon appear among other countries where Russian visa centers were opened. Really, according to Nina Tikhontseva, the number of German groups in their company significantly decreased due to the Russian visa policy. “Since last year, Germans have to provide a lot of documents proving prosperity and financial stability. This turned out to be a difficult task for tourists: groups are collective, the population is scattered through small towns and villages”, – she explained. RATA-news has already written about the problem.

Tour operators have great expectations and concerns for 2013. But there's a great lack of places in the hotels of Moscow and St. Petersburg because of huge events. For example, the Economic Forum and the International conference of the Group of 20 in St. Petersburg, world championship Rugby and athletics in Moscow seriously disrupt summer touris. As Igor Kuzmin told RATA-news, most of the hotel places are already blocked for official organizations. According to Nina Zharova, a hotel room costs from eight to ten thousand rubles per night for the period of summit in St. Petersburg in September. The same situation goes for the St. Petersburg's economic forum which is traditionally held during the twilight nights. It turns out that tourists are forced to choose the off-seasons for their trips; however it doesn't suit the citizens of warm countries.


Tourist departures to Russia in 2012

(thousand trips)


Country

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

1

Germany

375,3

346,6

347,2

333,9

332,8

2

China

343,4

234,1

158,1

115,9

127,2

3

USA

179,8

169,8

162,4

183,2

185,9

4

United Kingdom

135,9

128,5

126,5

150,9

142,0

5

Finland

120,3

133,6

139,2

149,9

141,0

6

Italy

118,7

125,0

123,0

113,5

143,5

7

France

99,6

94,9

94,3

94,2

103,2

8

Israel

86,0

75,5

58,7

46,5

32,7

9

Spain

70,3

100,8

86,7

95,1

105,7

10

South Korea

48,4

47,0

42,6

35,2

47,3

11

Japan

44,7

38,0

42,2

39,3

44,4

12

Canada

36,3

34,9

31,5

43,6

44,2

13

Australia

33,0

24,8

21,2

22,4

26,1

14

The Netherlands

32,5

37,9

34,9

31,9

35,4

15

Latvia

32,1

33,5

33,8

33,9

66,8

16

Poland

30,1

29,9

25,6

26,4

32,9

17

Switzerland

28,8

26,3

23,9

26,2

23,8

18

Austria

28,1

28,0

28,3

31,4

24,8

19

Estonia

27,4

31,3

34,6

34,0

45,7

20

Brazil

27,2

23,0

15,1

10,6

16,1

21

India

26,6

12,6

9,6

8,6

6,8

22

Sweden

23,9

27,4

22,1

28,3

24,9

23

Lithuania

21,1

22,1

22,8

33,6

58,4

24

Norway

20,6

23,3

22,5

27,9

34,3

25

Belgium

18,6

17,8

17,0

17,2

18,8

26

Hong Kong

17,0

15,1

10,0

6,2

-

27

Denmark

16,7

17,5

16,2

15,1

19,7

28

Greece

14,5

17,1

18,1

23,4

23,0

29

Iran

14,0

13,9

12,3

9,5

7,9

30

Mexico

13,2

14,2

11,7

8,0

-

 

TOTAL

2570,5

2336

2133,9

2100,6

2295,1

 

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