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Russian outbound statistics for Q1, 2012

Over 8 million Russians travelled abroad for the first three months of 2012, according to Rosstat, a 12% increase on the first Q1 of 2011. 2.7 million of the travelers are classified as Leisure travelers, which shows a 23% on last year’s figures for the same period.
The Top 5 destinations for the winter of 2012-13 were Egypt, Thailand, China, Germany and Finland. Despite the political situation and -34% decrease last year, Egypt is starting to recover and has a 101% gain on last year figures, receiving 404,000 Russian tourists during this period. Thailand also grew by 13% (337,000 visitors) and is considered to be the 2nd most important winter destination from the Russians after Egypt. China lost 4% and Finland was down by 15%, but both destinations still made it to the Top 5.

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                 Source: Rosstat, May 2012

Of the sun and sea Winter destinations, Vietnam showed the highest level of growth (+102%), this was mainly due to the large increase in the number of charters launched from regional cities in Russia, however in terms of absolute figures Vietnam is far less important (49,000 Russian visitors). Visits to Tunisia increased by over 100%, but in absolute figures it was only 2,000 visitors. Maldives received large increase in Russian visitors, up by 58% as did the Dominican Republic by +57% and the UAE with a 47% increase.
Greece received 50% more Russians during the first quarter of 2012, which is a large increase for a destination not normally of interest to Russians during the winter period. Traditional winter destinations for Russians, such as  Norway, which showed 79% increase in arrivals, while other destinations with large increases in Q 1, 2012 were Estonia (+113%) and the Netherlands (+47%).
In main losers, apart from China and Finland, were Jordan which received 15% in 2012 than in 2011, Turkey which was down by 10% and Japan, which was down by 8% in overall arrivals from Russia.

Top 20 leisure destinations for Russian 1st Quarter of 2012 (January – March)
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Source: Rosstat, May 2012

Russia is the main source market for Europe

According to the latest report by the European Travel Commission, in 2012 Russia remains the best performing source markets for travel to Europe. Almost all key European destinations show visitor growth from Russia exceeding 10%.

In 2011, out of 26.2 million Russian outbound tourists, 19.4 million (74%) travelled to Europe. Of these, 23% visited Western Europe, while 77% travelled to Eastern Europe According to the. ETC,  Western Europe will  lose some of its market share of the Russian market in 2015, down to 16%, while Eastern Europe will increase its share will increase to 58%.  International outbound travel from Russia in general is expected to grow 1.7% per year on average by 2015.