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9% of Russians plan on going abroad this summer

09:18, 29 мая 2013

Almost 33% of Russian citizens would travel abroad if they had enough money, while just 9% do intend to spend their vacation outside Russia. At the same time, the number of those who can't afford a holiday overseas at all is getting smaller with every passing year. The head of All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTSIOM), Mr. Valery Fyodorov, shared the Russians' traveling preferences with the press.

As a traditional VTSIOM's May survey revealed, 45% of the respondents will stay home for the summer, 22% will head to their countryside dachas, 11% are going to visit other Russian cities, 10% will go to Russian Black Sea coast, 2% – to Crimea and 1% – to the Baltics. Just a year before the latter were chosen by 5%. As for the reasons for such a downturn, Mr. Fyodorov says that with 1600 participating respondents a decrease of 2-3% lies within the statistical error, meaning that the figures haven't really changed.

Speaking of types of trips, the most popular ones are beach holidays (38%), followed by cultural (25%), medical (21%) and hiking (17%).

Russian tourists' theoretical travel plans really differ from the actual ones. When asked where would they go if they had enough money, 33% named trips abroad, 18% – Russian Black Sea, 10% – Crimea, 9% – a dacha of another Russian city. It is interesting, that in 2005 a desire to travel outside their homeland was expressed by 28% of the pollees.

All the while, a share of those who is not going to travel at all is constantly getting smaller. In 2012 there were 50% of them, compared to 45% this year. "Most frequently we hear "no money" as a reason for staying home; this year 47% said so. In 2008, five years ago, this was said by 60% – today the lack of money as a ground for holding back a vacation abroad is the case for 25% less people," told the head of VTSIOM. Among other reasons not to travel are health issues, business matters, family circumstances, small children and a prosy unwillingness to leave home.

As for the kids, just 37% of them are staying home for the summer. 17% will relax at dachas, 12% – in summer camps, 12% – on Russian Black Sea coast, 7% – outside the country, 9% named other places, and a mere 2% will go hiking.

According to VTSIOM's appraisal, just around five million Russians travel abroad for leisure or business on a regular basis. But their numbers are steadily growing. "People become more experienced, communication gets easier. Besides, the new generations supplant; it can be seen in both political attitude (the voting turnout goes down) and travel preferences. Today, unlike the Soviet times, the youth know very little about Russia's places of interest, while, say, Turkey, Norway or Switzerland invest in promotion of their countries as attractive and intriguing destinations. And, first of all, it affects the young generation," deems Mr. Fyodorov.

He believes that despite the growing popularity of independent traveling, the majority still thinks that a vacation should be booked through a travel agent. "It is especially noticeable with occasional travelers, of which we have much more than regular ones. Some of the latter enjoy arranging a trip on their own, but some still value travel companies' services," the sociologist added. He also revealed that the Center intends to once again perform the previous year's polling aimed at revealing how the Russians prefer organizing their leisure. Back then it turned out that 73% like doing it on their own, while 21% seek help from travel agents. Among the wealthiest population group, 32% go to travel companies. Mind that last year all kinds of trips were in question, not just overseas ones.

On this summer holidays, the Russians are to spend an average of 27,000 roubles (€668) per family member. Compared to the previous year, the figure has hardly grown (+2%); and when adjusted for inflation, it has even gone down. It is hard to say why it is like that. Have the Russians learned to manage their income better or the prices have stopped growing – that we don't know.

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