News Flash

  • Egypt, Thailand, Goa, the Dominican Republic as well as European ski resorts were the leading New Year destinations for Russians in 2010, according to the ATOR and the Federal Tourism Agency. Over 1,000 charter flights left Russia for their New Year holidays from Dec 20, 2009 - Jan 10, 2010, which was an increase on the no of charters in 2008.  Approx half of them went to Egypt, while the other 50% either went skiing in Europe to: France, Switzerland, Austria and Bulgaria or went on a holiday to a warm destination, particularly to SE Asia, where Thailand was the most popular destination. During this period, 2 million Russians spent their holidays abroad.
  • Looking at the whole of 2009, Turkey and Egypt maintained their positions as the leading destinations in Russia. From January - November 2009, 2.6 million Russians went to Turkey making Russia Turkey's second largest source market after Germany. However, this was 7% less than in 2008. Egypt expects the total number of Russian visits in 2009 to have reached 2 million and aims to attract 2.6 million Russian tourists in 2010. The Egyptian Tourism Ministry noted that Russians are now the leading source market for tourism in Egypt.
  • Israel, which became a visa free destination for Russians in late 2008, received a further increase in the no. of Russian visitors in 2009, with a total of 319,000 Russians visiting Israel during the first 9 months of 2009, which is an increase of 14.5% on 2008 figures. In Oct, 2009, Russia took over the USA in terms of the total no. of visitors during that month, however, a substantial amount of them travel to Israel for just one day, either flying in from Turkey for a day visit or passing through Eliat, especially on cruises.
  • Thailand is now one of the leading long haul destinations for Russians, a total of 220,000 Russians visited during the first 11 months of 2009. This was 7% reduction on 2008 figures. However, during November alone, over 40,000 Russians went to Thailand, which was 64% more than in November 2008. Thailand expects a 10% growth of Russian arrivals in 2010.