Feature

The Rosstat outbound travel statistics for Russia for the first 9 months of 2012 show an overall increase of 10%, with a total of 37 million Russians travelling abroad, of which 12 million travelled strictly for leisure purposes ( a growth of 6%)

The diagram below shows the overall figures for the top 20 outbound destinations. Included in the top 5 destinations are Finland and China, both benefit largely from cross boarder visits and one day shopping trips. According to Rosstat, Finland received 3.8 million Russians visitors with an overall increase of 18%, but its leisure traffic is down by 43%; this contradicts the data provided by the Finish tourism authorities, which states that over 80% of Russians visiting Finland are leisure tourists. The other 3 countries in the top 5 destinations are: Egypt, Turkey and Estonia.  Turkey received 2.3 million Russians, a decrease of 7% compared to 2011 (in leisure figures), however the Turkish Tourism Ministry reported a 3% growth during the first 10 months of 2012. With 1.4 million Russians, Egypt had an impressive 40% growth rate, as it recovers from the political crisis of 2010, but it has still not reached the 2010 figures of 2.5 million Russians.

Top 20 Outbound Destinations for Russians in 2012 (9 months)

Also in the Top 20 destinations for 2012 are: Germany, Greece and Spain. Germany had 1 million Russian visitors, with 533 000 being leisure visitors. Rosstat states a 20% growth for Greece and 22% growth for Spain, however these statistic, of 862 000 visitors to Spain are substantially lower than the data provided by Turespana, which celebrated a million Russian tourists some time ago. Another destination that’s getting ready to mark one million tourists from Russia is Thailand: according to TAT, during the first 8 months of 2012, there was a  22%  increase in the no. of  Russian visitors, reaching10 822 000, while Rostourism figures showed only 679,000 and  the lower growth rate of 12%. The Baltic states of Estonia and Lithuania and Poland, all made it into the top 10 in 2012, while Italy, Thailand and UAE were pushed out of the top 10 list into the Top 20, which suggests an increase in visits to nearby destinations which can be reached by car or train, rather than plane. However, it should be noted that these are not the final figures for 2012, as we still need to add the final quarter figures, so the final destinations in the Top10, may still change.

Other destinations with substantial growth according to the Rosstat figures were Tunisia (+55%) and UAE (+39%), as well as Japan, which gained over 80% in leisure visitors, recovering after 2011 nuclear disaster.