Where do tourists from different regions of Russia go?

Muscovites in 2017, 54% of foreign trips made to Europe. In 2016, the share of trips by residents of the capital to Europe remained at 61%.

 

The most popular states among residents of the capital were Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain and Germany. Another 38% of Ipsos Comcon respondents in Moscow said they travel to Asia, up from 33% in 2016. Last year, the growth was able to give Turkey, “selected” part of the European trips.

 

In 2017, Turkey and Thailand were in demand among Muscovites as Asian destinations. In Africa, there were 7% of respondents (Tunisia).

 

In the regions, the distribution of foreign travel differs from the capital. Tourists of the Volga, Ural and Siberian Federal Districts share of Turkey and Thailand is 59%. The popularity of these Asian destinations has grown: in 2016, the share of Asian countries in foreign tourist trips of residents of these phos was equal to 49%.

 

Europe occupies a share of 33% in the regions, Greece, Spain and Germany are the most in demand. The percentage of tours to Africa and America is equal to 8% and 2%. Of the African countries, respondents from these counties were most likely to go to North Africa, Egypt (independently) and Tunisia.

 

The people of St. Petersburg are bigger fans of Europe than Russia. The share of tours to European countries of those who made at least one foreign trip per year is 73% (in 2016 - 72%).

Experts explain the high percentage of travel to Finland and Estonia, not classic tourism. Then there are traditional tourist destinations: Greece, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria.

 

The share of Asian countries in St. Petersburg is high – 19%, Turkey and Thailand. The share of tours to Africa (Tunisia) and America is 7 and 4%, respectively.

 

Residents of the Far Eastern Federal District (81% of respondents) prefer Asia and China. The second and third places in the number of responses among Asian destinations were Thailand and Turkey. Every tenth inhabitant of the Far East went to Europe, to Italy. The share of African and American countries has not reached 1%.

 

In general, the map of tourist preferences in Russia looks like this: Europe takes 53% of all travel, Asia - 35%, African countries (Tunisia, Egypt, etc.) - 17%, both Americas - 3%.

 

This division is not similar to the position of outbound tourism according to tourist administrations of foreign countries, where almost a third of the tourist flow from Russia belongs to Turkey.

 

The discrepancies are explained by the fact that residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg can afford to travel abroad two to three times more than the rest of Russia. The share of Russians who traveled abroad over the past year on vacation, according to 2017, is 9.8% in Moscow, 11.6% in St. Petersburg, 3.6% in the Far Eastern Federal District, and 4% in other districts of Russia. Consequently, Europe’s victory in the 2017 survey is explained by its large share of the sample.