Over 616,000 Russians visited Turkey in June alone, with the overall figures reaching almost 1.5 million for the period of January - June 2011, according to the Turkish Tourism Ministry. This is 11% increase on last year's figures. Russia is the 2nd largest inbound market for Turkey after the Germany (1,900,000 visitors in the first 6 month) followed by the UK (996,000).
In addition to this, possibly due to the familiarity and high level of demand, Turkey was the most popular destination for Russians to search for online, according to Russia's leading search engine Yandex. Turkey was 3 times more popular than the 2nd top destination for search this summer, which was Bulgaria. Other popular destinations for online search are Greece, Spain and Cyprus. Over 50% of searches for Turkey are about hotels, Kemer is the most popular destination for online search, followed by Alanya and Marmaris.
China received 15% more Russians in the first 5 months of 2011. According to the National Tourism Office, 897,000 Russians travelled to China with the most popular tourism products being combined tours to either Beijing or Hong Kong for excursions and shopping, in combination with seaside resorts such ast Hainan. In 2010, 140,000 Russians came to Hainan, which was 92% of all foreign visitors; the total no.of Russians coming to Hainan in 2011 is expected to reach 200,000. Medical and wellness tourism to Dalyan is also increasingly popular particularly with Russian residents from the Far East.
Israel received 260,000 Russians during first 6 months of 2011, which is a 21% growth compared to the first half of last year. In June alone, 20,000 Russians went to Israel, which was 72% more than last June. In the winter season of 2011-2012, one of the largest TO in Russia, Pegas Touristik, will run charters to Eilat from 6 regional cities like Chelyabinsk, Ekaterinburg, Krasnodar, etc.
Among other new charter destinations for Pegas this season will be Kenya. As of November until mid April, Pegas will run charter program from Moscow to Mombasa, the flight will be operated every 11 days by Nord Wind airline (the own airline of Pegas). In 2010, 5,500 Russians visited Kenya, and in 2009 - 3,400 pax.
Bulgaria reported a 23% increase of Russian tourists from January - May 2011. Over 66,000 Russians came to Bulgaria during this period, with an average stay of 12 nights and an average spend of 70 EUR per day. The Bulgarian visa service expects to issue 300,000 visas to Russians by the end of the year, with peak season being summer months of school holidays. Bulgaria is a popular family destination for the Russian Middle class who are keen on the seaside.
The average length of stay for a Russian tourist in Hungary is much shorter, according to the National Tourism Office - 4 days, but that's twice longer than by any other visiting nationality. Over 50,000 Russians came to Hungary in the first 6 months of 2011, which is 13% more than in the same period of last year.
Croatia hosted 35,000 Russian tourists in June 2011, which was the best result since 2007 and more than the benchmark of 2008. This is also 16% more than in June 2010. However, Russia is not yet among the top feeder markets for Croatia which are Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
And finally, the Czech Republic received 100% more Russians in the first 6 months of this year - 271,000 people compared to same period of 2010. The average spent for a Russian according to the National Statistics Service, is 147 EUR per day, compared to the average of 90 EUR per day by other nationalities. Russia is now the 2nd largest source market for the country after Germany, and is followed by Poland and Italy.
From the long haul destinations, Bali reported a 26% growth of arrivals from Russia during January-May 2011, or 35,800 people in absolute figures. The Dominican Republic in the first 6 months of the year received around 52,000 Russian tourists, which is 60% more than in the same period of last year. Cuba is a less popular but also a fast growing destination for the Russians - 38,400 visitors in Jan-June 2011, or 67% increase compared to the first half of 2010.