Executive Director of ATOR (Association of Tour Operators of Russia) Maya Lomidze admitted in a recent interview that hopes for growth in domestic tourism in the Russian Federation, due to the closure of such mass destinations as Egypt and Turkey, were not justified. Russians switched from countries closed by the will of the authorities to accessible foreign destinations.
According to ATOR data cited by RBC, over the past two weeks there has been increased demand for tours to UAE (+20%), Thailand (+15%), Goa (+5%), Vietnam (+5%) and Israel (+ 3%).
Lomidze noted that, despite the current growth in Russians’ interest in foreign travel, a catastrophic decline in the level of outbound tourism is predicted for the year, down to 40% compared to last year’s statistics.
It is also reported that after ban on visiting Turkey organized tourists (through tour operators), many Russians switched to independent booking. Thus, according to the popular search and online booking service Momondo, after the ban on the sale of tours to Turkey, the number of searches air tickets to Antalya increased by 20.4%.
