Feature

The Increase of Online Search and Bookings for Mass Tourism Destinations

The analysis of the leading Russian search engine Yandex of the demand for summer package tours in terms of internet search shows that Egypt and Turkey are still the most popular destinations for Russian tourists, followed by Greece. In total, Turkey accounted for 27% of all searches in the Ru.net, followed by Egypt with 10%.

In absolute numbers, Yandex registered 310.000 searches for Turkey in June 2010, compared to 206,000 in June 2009, while the search for packages to Egypt increased to 115.000 from 82.000 in 2009.


Destination

No.of searches in 2010

Total share of all searches in 2010

Turkey

310 000

27%

Egypt

115 000

10%

Greece

83 000

7.2%

Italy

65 000

5.7%

Spain

58 000

5%

Bulgaria

50 000

4.3%

Overall, the same 6 destinations were the Top as in 2009. Their total share of searches for these destinations together in June 2010 was 63%. In the Top 10 are also Tunisia, Croatia, Cyprus and Montenegro. Not in the Top 10 but destinations with substantially growth in frequency are: Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jordan, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

According to Yandex, in June 2010 there was a 58% increase in searches by users looking for packaged tours on the internet than last year, which suggests that Russians are moving online in terms of booking their holidays, but they want to buy a package not separate flights and hotels .