How much do Russians spend on foreign holidays?
The expenses of Russians on tourist trips abroad last year approached $ 35 billion. These figures were announced at the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) congress, which was held on April 3-4 in Seville, Spain.
The average check for a trip is about $ 900 – this is the fee for flight, transfer and hotel accommodation. At the same time, on-site costs often approach a similar amount, doubling the costs. This correlates with data from other studies, in particular Sberbank, according to which last summer the average spending of Russians paying with bank cards abroad amounted to 67 thousand rubles per trip.
A similar study by VISA, an international bank card operator, found spending was rising despite the crisis. From 1 to 10 January 2019, Russians spent abroad about 20 billion rubles, which is 1 billion more than in 2018, and 4 billion more than in January 2017.
The number of Russians who spend holidays abroad is becoming smaller – in 2018, according to polls by VTSIOM, they were 6%, which is 1% less than in 2017. There is an explanation for this - incomes are falling, and fewer people can afford to travel abroad.
The authors of the WTTC study assess the opportunities for the development of inbound tourism in Russia. Moscow has been ranked among the worst cities to travel to because the tourist infrastructure is in the early stages of development and the concentration of visitors is low, but there are opportunities for growth.